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BOOKS ON 

CONGREGATIONAL POLITY 

By WILLIAM E. BARTON 



THE LAW OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 
A comprehensive survey of the entire field of the 
Congregational system, as related to the local 
church, the, minister, the district association, the 
state conference, the National Council, Councils 
pro re nata, and the missionary organizations; 
with numerous citations from Congregational au- 
thorities; the most complete treatise on this sub- 
ject. 

8vo, pp. 495, $2.50 



BARTON'S CONGREGATIONAL MANUAL 
Four concise volumes in one. The Law of De- 
liberative Assemblies; Congregational Theory and 
Practice; Compendium of Forms; and Book of 
Public Services. 
Flexible Leather, for the Pocket; pp. 310, $1.50 



CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 
Crown 8vo, pp. 360, $1.75 

For Sale by 

ADVANCE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

Chicago 

THE PURITAN PRESS 
Sublette, Illinois 



CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS 



AND 



COVENANTS 



BY 



WILLIAM E. BARTON, D, D„ LL. D. 



Professorial Lecturer in Ecclesiastical Law in Chicago Theological 
Seminary, affiliated with the University of Chicago; Minister of 
the First Church of Oak Park; Editor of "The Advance"; Author 
of "The Congregational Manual," "The Law of Congregational 
Usage," etc. 



W^3 



mm 



ADVANCE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

CHICAGO 

1917 



, :- U 



COPYRIGHT 1917 
ADVANCE PUBLISHING COMPANY 



AUG-4iS«? 
©CU470714 



PREFACE 

There exists one monumental work on "The Creeds and Plat- 
forms of Congregationalism" by Prof. Williston Walker. To that 
work and the books listed in its Bibliography as well as to some 
later books, the author of the present work is deeply indebted. 
There is need, however, of an inexpensive and popular book setting 
forth our general position as a denomination with reference to 
creedal statements, and containing the texts of those confessions of 
faith which have received from time to time the endorsement of 
Congregationalists, particularly in America. The student who 
wishes to make an exhaustive study of the subject will still need 
Prof. Walker's great book; but both ministers and laymen need a 
smaller work, such as this undertakes to be. Dr. Walker's book 
appeared in 1893, and completed its admirable recital with the 
adoption of the Commission's creed of 1883. A whole generation 
has passed since then, and there are important supplements to be 
added to the history. 

Dr. Walker's great book deals with Congregational Creeds and 
Platforms. The present work contains no study of platforms or 
systems of government, that subject having been treated in the 
author's "The Law of Congregational Usage" and in his "Congrega- 
tional Manual;" but the present volume is concerned with Congre- 
gational covenants^ as well as with its creeds. 

This book had been written and was thought to be ready for 
the press when the author discovered an entirely unexpected fund 
of information on the subject of church covenants in "The Church 
Covenant Idea" by Champlin Burrage, published in 1904 by the 
American Baptist Publication Society. The author was familiar 
with Mr. Burrage's other contributions to the literature of the early 
Anabaptists, Pilgrims and Puritans, but singularly had never heard 
of this important monograph. Since obtaining it, however, he has 
considerably enlarged the section devoted to "Church Covenants," 
availing himself freely of the material collected by Mr. Burrage. 

In addition to these, and the standard books on Congregational 
history and polity, the author is indebted to Schaff's Creeds of 

5 



6 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Christendom, three volumes; to The History of Creeds and Confes- 
sions, by Prof. W. A. Curtis, of Aberdeen; and to Prof. Briggs' 
suggestive volume on Theological Symbolics. The quotations from 
various authorities on the ethics of creed subscription are acknow- 
ledged in their proper places in the text. But the author's largest 
debt is to several hundred ministers and other scholars who, at 
the author's request, have sent to him copies of confessions and 
covenants from every part of the United States and from other 
countries, together with statements as to local usage with reference 
to their employment in worship and confession. 

It is the purpose of this book, not only to bring down to date 
the story of our Congregational covenants and confessions of faith, 
but to put into the hands of our ministers and laymen what the 
author hopes will be a helpful treatise on the rightful place of 
creeds and their possible use and abuse in Congregational churches. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PART ONE 



CONGREGATIONAL COVENANTS 

I. Creeds and Covenants 9 

II. The Covenant Idea ......... 18 

III. The Scotch Covenants 24 

IV. Early English Covenants 29 

V. The Pilgrim Covenant 48 

VI. Church and Community Covenants ... 51 

VII. Early American Covenants 59 

VIII. The Half Way Covenant 67 

IX. The Value of the Covenant 74 

X. Covenants Old and New . 79 



PART TWO 



CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS 

I. Early Congregational Creeds 105 

II. Local Church Creeds 112 

III. The Confessions of 1648 and 1680 . . . .119 

IV. The Burial Hill Confession . . . . . 142 
V. The Oberlin Declaration 161 

VI. The Creed of 1883 : 173 

7 



8 



CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 



VII. English and Canadian Declarations 

VIII. The Dayton Declaration . 

IX. The Kansas City Creed op 1913 . 

X. A Summary of Congregational Usage 



180 
197 
203 
206 



PART THREE 



CREEDS AND CONSCIENCES 

I. Creeds : Their Use and Abuse . 

II. The Ethics of Creed Subscription . 

III. Creeds and the Second Commandment 

IV. The Repeal of Obsolete Creeds . 
V. A Testimony, Not A Test . 

VI. A Symposium on Church Membership 

VII. The Minister and Creed Subscription 



228 
247 
273 
283 
292 
304 
326 



PART ONE 
CONGREGATIONAL COVENANTS 



I. THE CREED AND THE COVENANT 

A Congregational church is not necessarily a church of 
Congregationalists ; it is a church of Christians, Congrega- 
tionally governed. The earliest Congregational churches pos- 
sessed no formal confessions of faith. The church in Wenham, 
Massachusetts, had a confession as early as 1644, and that of 
Winthrop, Connecticut, adopted one in 1647, but the general 
habit of including a creed in the constitution of a Congrega- 
tional church originated in the early part of the nineteenth 
century, when the Unitarian controversy sharply denned, and 
in some instances over-emphasized, the lines of Christian 
dogma, dividing the adherents of that communion from their 
brethren in the historic Congregational churches. 

The absence of formal confessions of faith was not in 
anywise due to carelessness on the part of the early Congre- 
gationalists as to what their members should believe. Examina- 
tions for admission to the church were often somewhat rigid, 
though ordinarily were made flexible, and adjusted to the age, 
experience and condition of persons uniting with the church. 
Candidates for church fellowship sometimes were examined 
before the whole church membership, though more frequently 
examinations were held in private. We are reliably informed 
by Captain Johnson in his " Wonder- Working Providence' ' 
that examinations were less severe, not only in the case of 

9 



10 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

young people and of women, but also of men who were bashful 
and not accustomed to speaking in public. The Cambridge 
Platform definitely declared that severity of examination was 
to be avoided, and that "the weakest measure of faith is to 
be accepted. ' ' Doubtless the examinations would have seemed 
severe if compared to the methods in vogue at the present day, 
but we are not left in doubt as to their theory and intention. 

Church membership in primitive Congregationalism was 
based not on the acceptance of a formal creed, but on assent 
to a covenant. Some of the covenants contained brief sum- 
maries of doctrine, but even this was exceptional. The Scrooby 
church was organized on the basis of a covenant of its mem- 
bers "to walk together in the ways of the Lord, made known 
or to be made known to them, whatever it should cost them, 
the Lord assisting them." The church at Salem was organ- 
ized with thirty members, each one of whom was presented 
with a written copy of the Covenant, penned by the pastor, 
Rev. Francis Higginson, as follows: 

"We covenant with the Lord and one with another, and 
do bind ourselves, in the presence of God, to walk together in 
all His ways, according as He is pleased to reveal himself 
unto us in his blessed Word of Truth. " 

The church in Charlestown, which became the First 
church in Boston, was organized on the basis of the covenant 
of its members "to walk in all our ways according to the rule 
of the Gospel, and in all sincere conformity to his holy ordi- 
nances, and in mutual love and respect each to the other, so 
near as God shall give us grace." 

The Church in New Haven was organized on the basis 
of a similar covenant, and the same is true of the Congrega- 
tional churches of New England generally. 

Prof. Walker says, "In general, these fundamental cove- 
nants were remarkably free from doctrinal expression, being 
usually a simple promise to walk in fidelity to the Divine 
commandment and in Christian faithfulness one to another. 



THE CREED AND THE COVENANT 11 

Nor was anything of peculiar sanctity supposed to lie in the 
form of words adopted at the beginning. Such covenants were 
renewed, made more explicit against definite forms of preva- 
lent sin, or otherwise amended, with much freedom, to meet 
the exigencies of ecclesiastical life. In fact, it was widely the 
custom for each new minister to draught the particular agree- 
ment to which he took the assent of candidates for church 
membership, without necessarily submitting his form of words 
to the approval of the church. The essential matter was the 
agreement, not its verbal expression. ' ' ( Walker 's ' ' Congrega- 
tionalists," p. 218.) 

One of the most elaborate of these early covenants was 
that of the church at Woburn, adopted in 1642, and reported 
by Captain Johnson in his ''Wonder-Working Providence, ' ' 
which he accompanies with the statement "Every church 
hath not the same for words, for they are not for a form of 
words. ' ' The following is the Woburn covenant : 

We that do assemble ourselves this day before God and his 
people, in an unfeigned desire to be accepted of Him as a Church 
of the, Lord Jesus Christ, according to the rule of the New Testa- 
ment, do acknowledge ourselves to be the most unworthy of all 
others that we should attain such a high grace, and the most unable 
of ourselves to the performance of any thing that is good, abhorring 
ourselves for all our former defilements in the worship of God, and 
other ways, and relying only upon the Lord Jesus Christ for atone- 
ment, and upon the power of his grace for the guidance of our 
whole after course, do here in the name of Christ Jesus, as in the 
presence of the Lord, from the bottom of our hearts agree together 
through his grace to give up our selves, first unto the Lord Jesus 
as our only King. Priest and Prophet, wholly to be subject unto 
him in all things, and therewith one unto another, as in a Church- 
Body to walk together in all the Ordinances of the Gospel, and in 
all such mutual love and offices thereof, as toward one another in 
the Lord ; and all this, both according to the present light that the 
Lord hath given us, as also according to all further light, which 
He shall be pleased at any time to reach out unto us out of the 
Word by thej Goodness of his grace, renouncing also in the same 
Covenant all errors and Schisms, and whatsoever byways that 
are contrary to the blessed rules revealed in the Gospel, and in 
particular the inordinate love and seeking after the things of the 
world.— Johnson's "Wonder- Working Providence," p. 216. 



12 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Not till 1826, when Nathaniel Emmons published his 
"Scriptural Platform of Ecclesiastical Government" did any 
considerable group of Congregational churches found their 
organization on a theory that the local church is a voluntary 
club, which may rightfully adopt sectarian creeds, expressive 
of the faith of its members as separate from that of Chris- 
tians in general, and designed for the purpose of keeping 
other Christians out. Dr. Leonard Woolsey Bacon subjects 
this departure from historic Congregationalism to merciless 
and just criticism, maintaining that it was nothing less than 
a secession from historic Congregationalism on the part of cer- 
tain orthodox churches in Eastern Massachusetts. He said, 
"Not only did the use of imposed and prescribed doctrinal 
tests (so abhorrent to the fathers) come into general use; but 
the new churches were distinctly labelled 'Trinitarian' or 
' Calvinistic ; ' and it came to be considered quite laudable, by 
stipulations in the covenant, to elect churches on an anti- 
slavery, *or total abstinence, or prohibitionist basis." — "The 
Congregationalists, " pp. 224, 5. 

In the beginning it was not so. Richard Mather says 
that churches "may have a platform by way of a profession 
of their faith, but not a binding rule of faith and practice." 
Burton in his rejoinder to Prynne says: "It is the greatest 
possible tyranny over men's souls to make other men's judg- 
ments the rule of my conscience. ' ' Cotton Mather says, ' ' The 
churches of New England make only vital piety the terms of 
communion among them ; and they all with delight, see godly 
Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Anti-pedo 
Baptists, and Lutherans, all members of the same churches." 
To this agree the early fathers in practical unanimous tes- 
timony. 

It is safe to say that if Congregationalism had continued 
to be the only church in New England, and from thence had 
spread westward into communities where it should have had 
no need to differentiate itself from other denominations, very 



THE CREED AND THE COVENANT 13 

few Congregational churches would ever have adopted formal 
confessions of faith. They would have remained content with 
covenants of exceeding brevity, elasticity and simplicity, and 
would have referred for the expression of their faith in creedal 
form to almost any convenient and well known declaration of 
faith ' ' for the substance thereof. ' ' 

When local pastors prepared confessions of faith for their 
own use, they were rarely adopted by the church, but were 
used as convenient summaries of expression to be submitted to 
prospective members in order to assist them in the formulation 
of their own views and not as creedal tests on the basis of 
whose acceptance or denial Christians were to be admitted or 
excluded. 

The Unitarian controversy greatly modified the historic 
relationship of Congregationalism to creedal statements, and 
the spread of the Congregational denomination outside of New 
England into communities where it came into direct relations 
with other and more highly organized churches made it in- 
advisable longer to refer to the confessions of 1648 and 1680 
as adequately or even vaguely representing the faith of mod- 
ern Congregationalism. Creedal forms became a practical 
working necessity, but that fact in no way commits the de- 
nomination to the policy of creedal tests. Creeds in Congre- 
gationalism are definitely used as a testimony and not as a test. 

The relations of an individual church member to the 
declaration of faith either of a local church or of his denomi- 
nation are not unlike those of a voter to his party platform. 
The platform does not in any wise undertake to tell what every 
member of the party thinks on every possible question at issue 
before the American people. It does endeavor to set forth 
the general attitude of the party as a whole toward the more 
prominent of those questions, leaving the individual voter very 
wide latitude of judgment with reference to particular ques- 
tions, even including those which are treated in the platform. 
In like manner it is the theory of the Congregational churches, 



14 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

and was so in the beginning, that a Congregational church 
should be inclusive of all true Christian men and women and 
children in the community. Cotton Mather expressed with 
pride the favor with which the New England churches re- 
garded their "variety in unity." 

A confession of faith may be a very useful or a very 
harmful thing. In the main, our Congregational churches 
have stood in wholesome fear of creedal forms. Almost any 
Congregational church would prefer to have no creed rather 
than a creed to use as a test of fellowship, or a creed that could 
not be changed. The only notable exceptions to this general 
rule of Congregational practice are those which grew out of 
the Unitarian controversy in the nineteenth century. 

The Congregational churches have always sought to be 
obedient to the rule of God and of the whole body of the 
people, but have earnestly objected to the spiritual tyranny of 
men, either living or dead, imposed upon them by any kind of 
ecclesiastical authority. Whatever consent Congregational- 
ists give to confessions of faith, either local or general, must 
be in essential accord with, and definitely limited by, these 
distinctive historical principles. 

It is hardly too much to say of the earlier Congregational 
confessions that their doctrinal portions were little more than 
footnotes to their declarations of polity. New England Con- 
gregationalists were not experienced creed-makers, but they 
had much practice in denning their principles of church gov- 
ernment. They considered doctrine to be of more consequence 
than discipline, but they never regarded their Christian faith 
as essentially different from that of the great body of Chris- 
tians in the Reformed churches, while they did regard their 
form of government as their distinctive heritage and an im- 
portant part of their legacy to the world. They very readily 
accepted, one after the other, the Westminster and Savoy Con- 
fessions, rather than be bothered with making creeds of their 
own. 



THE CREED AND THE COVENANT 15 

The Savoy Confession was practically identical with the 
Westminster standards, excepting as to church government. 
These two symbols were readily accepted for substance of 
doctrine in New England, partly because Congregationalists 
for the most part were Calvinists and essentially like-minded 
with Presbyterians, and with English Congregationalists, but 
none the less because they were ready to assent in general 
terms to almost any orthodox creed. Having thus easily dis- 
posed of the question of doctrine, they proceeded to argue 
about polity. The eighth article of the "Heads of Agreement," 
established in England in 1692, and adopted at Saybrook, in 
1708, says: 

As to what appertains to the soundness of judgment in matters 
of faith, we esteem it sufficient that a church acknowledge the 
Scriptures to be the Word of God, the perfect and only rule of faith 
and practice, and own either the doctrinal part of those commonly 
called Articles of the Church of England, or the Confession or 
Catechisms, shorter or longer, compiled by the assembly at West- 
minister, or the confession agreed on at the Savoy, to be agreeable 
to the said rule. 

The Westminster or Savoy Confessions, or that of the 
Church of England, any one of them would answer for sub- 
stance of doctrine. 

They affirmed all creeds with a certain latitude, declaring 
as in the preface to the Saybrook Confession : 

It was the Glory of our fathers, that they heartily professed 
the only Rule of their Religion from the very first to be the Holy 
Scriptures, according whereunto, so far as they were persuaded, 
that intelligent Inquiry, Solicitous search, and faithful Prayer con- 
formed was for Faith, their Worship together with the, whole Ad- 
ministration of the House of Christ, and their manners, allowance 
being given to human Failures and Imperfections. 

But they were averse to forcing their confessions on 
others or having other confessions forced upon themselves. 

In the preface to the Savoy declaration it is declared that 
a Confession is — 

To be looked upon as a meet or fit medium, or means, whereby 
to express that their common faith and salvation, and no way to 



16 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

be made use of as an imposition upon any. Whatever' is of force 
or constrained in matters of this nature causeth them to degenerate 
from the name and nature of Confessions and turns them from 
being Confessions of Faith, into exactions and impositions of faith. 

Congregationalists have many creeds, but no creed. 
There is a sense in which they accept the substance of all 
creeds ; but they have uniformly refused to accept the author- 
ity of any creed. Any Congregational Church is at liberty to 
accept any creed it chooses, keep it as long as it likes, modify 
it when it is convinced of a larger truth, and discard it when 
it is ready. There is no central or superior body which can 
impose a creed on a Congregational church, neither is there 
any body which can forbid a Congregational Church to employ 
a creed if it chooses. Thomas Welde, first pastor of the 
Church in Roxbury, stated in 1644 what is recognized as the 
essential attitude of Congregational churches : 

' ' We hold it not unlawful to have a platform ; yet we see 
no ground to impose such a platform on churches, but leave 
them their liberty therein. ' ' When Rathband, to whose criti- 
cisms Welde replied, expressed wonder at the uniformity of 
organization and faith of Congregational churches, and "how 
the New England Churches fell into so exact a discipline with- 
out a platform, ' ' Welde replied that they had, indeed, a plat- 
form, the best and most consistent on earth, the Holy Scrip- 
tures. The Boston Confession of 1680 held that, 

God alone is Lord of the Conscience, and hath left it free from 
all the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any wise 
contrary to his word or not contained in it: so that to believe such 
doctrines, or to obey such commands is to betray true liberty of 
conscience; and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute 
and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason 
also. 

On the whole, Congregationalists find it a convenience to 
have written creeds. Churches that have no such written con- 
fessions have to spend a great deal more time in expositions 
of their unwritten creeds. If a Congregationalist is asked, 



THE CREED AND THE COVENANT 17 

"What, in general, do Congregationalists believes?" he will 
answer, ' ' There is no man or ecclesiastical body that has any 
right to put the Congregational denomination on record in 
answer to that question ; but broadly speaking, Congregation- 
alists hold the evangelical faith common to Christian 
Churches, and have from time to time expressed that faith in 
confessions that they use as a testimony and not as a test. ' ' 

The brief confession of faith which was adopted as a part 
of the Constitution of the National Council is prefaced by a 
recognition of the "steadfast allegiance of the Churches com- 
posing this Council to the faith which our fathers confessed, 
which from age to age has found its expression in the historic 
creeds of the Church universal and of this communion." It 
deliberately avoids confessing faith in those creeds, but ac- 
cepts the faith which, imperfectly and progressively, was ex- 
pressed in them all. It then adds a brief and comprehensive 
confession, which, in a broad and general sense, may be said 
to contain the statement of faith in those doctrines which Con- 
gregationalists in general count of especial importance, and 
which they assume as the basis of their fellowship in their Na- 
tional Council. 

Since the adoption of the new constitution of the National 
Council with its brief declaration of faith, many churches 
have been revising their form of admission of members, and 
there has been increased discussion as to the place of creeds 
and confessions of faith in Congregational polity. 



II. THE COVENANT IDEA 

How did any church come to be organized on the basis of 
a covenant? The answer is full of interest, and of large im- 
portance to the student of Congregational history. Before the 
Reformation there had been a church which assumed its right 
to exist in view of the alleged succession of its bishops from 
the apostles, the Bishop of Rome holding the keys by right of 
his assumed tactical and spiritual descent from Peter. Fol- 
lowing the Reformation, state-churches prevailed, holding 
their title either by will of the civil authority, or of some re- 
lation between it and the spiritual lordship of the land. Into 
such churches men were born; no covenant was necessary to 
establish their membership, though baptism and confirmation 
involved a recognition of the individual's relation to the sys- 
tem. What caused any group of men to believe, as the fathers 
of the Congregational and Baptist churches certainly did be- 
lieve, in church membership as established in a personal and 
mutual covenant? When these men revolted, as they did 
revolt, against the idea of membership in the church as estab- 
lished by civil authority and including certain masses of men 
and women by the accident of birth, how did it occur that 
these founders of new churches, did not affirm, as very natur- 
ally they might have done, that the basis of church member- 
ship was assent to a creed ? 

This question has received altogether inadequate attention 
among Congregational scholars. We are indebted to Mr. 
Champlin Burrage for the largest collection of data bearing 
upon this question. In his little book, ' ' The Covenant Idea, ! ' 
published by American Baptist Publication Society in 1904, 
is a collection of material gathered from the libraries of Lon- 

18 



THE COVENANT IDEA 19 

don, Oxford and Cambridge, which is freely drawn upon in 
the following pages. 

The first suggestion of a church covenant came to the 
Congregational and Anabaptist fathers from the study of the 
Old Testament. Far back as the story of the flood is the idea, 
and the use of the word as establishing a relationship between 
God and man. God said to Noah before the coming of the 
flood ' ' I will establish my covenant with thee ; and thou shalt 
come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy 
sons' wives with thee." (Gen. 6: 18). After the flood this 
promise is recorded, "And I will establish my covenant with 
you ; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters 
of the flood ; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy 
the earth. And God said, This is the token of the covenant 
which I make between me and you and every living creature 
that is with you, for perpetual generations : I do set my bow 
in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between 
me and the earth." (Gen. 9: 11-13). 

In even more intimate fashion the covenant of Abraham 
suggested God's relationship to the individual soul and to a 
people established, in a perpetual relationship with their God. 
Abraham was perhaps the first human being who consciously 
chose his God, and made a religion other than that in which 
he had been born his own by a solemn covenant with Jehovah. 
The people of Israel claimed Jehovah as their God, not only 
because of his tribal relationship to their nation and its land, 
but because of Jehovah's covenant with the patriarchs re- 
newed in solemn assemblies in later generations. 

Had the early Puritans known the customs of Oriental 
lands as they have been studied by modern scholars, and could 
they have possessed such material as Dr. H. Clay Trumbull 
assembled in his two painstaking volumes, ' ' The Blood Cove- 
nant" and "The Threshold Covenant" they would have 
known how widespread among the ancient peoples, even before 



20 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

the time of Abraham, was the idea of a covenant between 
God and man. 

These various Old Testament references abundantly jus- 
tifies a high regard for a covenant relation between God and 
the human soul, and the idea received a further emphasis in 
the classic passages in Jeremiah, in one of which Judah is de- 
nounced for not keeping the covenant (Jer. 11: 1-8) and in 
the other of which there is the promise, quoted and amplified 
in the Epistle to the Hebrews, of a New' Covenant (Jer. 31 : 
31-34 ; Hebrews 8 : 8-13) . These references are commemorated 
in the very names by which we call the two divisions of books 
of the Bible, The Old Covenant, and the New Covenant. 

The Jews, who counted themselves the covenant people, 
may at times have lost the sense of an indivdual relationship 
in that of the clan or tribe or nation, but when they admitted 
Gentiles into their fellowship, they recognized the individual- 
ity of the covenant idea ; for their proselytes became so by a 
covenant. This custom, known to the early Christians, had its 
influence in the establishment of their covenants. 

The founders of the Congregational and Baptist churches 
were not students of comparative religion ; but they were stu- 
dents of the Old Testament, and they believed that the cove- 
nant of God with the Patriarchs was a valid precedent for a 
covenant relation with his people and their children to all 
generations. 

But while the early Puritans were students of the Old Testa- 
ment they derived their polity almost wholly from the New 
Testament, and while they did not find in the New Testament 
the same emphasis upon the word covenant which is so prom- 
inent in the Old, the lack of the word in no wise daunted them, 
and they believed they found the essential idea in New Testa- 
ment polity. In this they probably were right ; and there are 
clear indications of the employment of a covenant in the usage 
of the early church. On this Burrage says — 



THE COVENANT IDEA 21 

; ' Yet though the church covenant idea, as it is known to 
us, does not seem definitely to appear in the New Testament, 
and though the term covenant employed in relation to a Chris- 
tian church is evidently of comparatively late date, it is inter- 
esting to note that in Asia Minor, very early in the Christian 
era, namely, during the reign of the Emperor Trajan (a. d. 
98-117), there were Christians who seem to have made use 
of an idea practically equivalent to, though earlier and there- 
fore naturally more informal than, the church covenant idea 
of later times. This fact is clearly manifested in the well- 
known letter of Pliny the Younger to the Emperor Trajan 
(written about the year a. d. 112), in which he says "that 
they [the Christians of that time in Pliny's domain] bound 
themselves by an oath at their meetings not to be guilty of 
theft, or robbery, or adultery, or the violation of their word 
or pledge. ' ' This oath resembles the earliest church covenants 
of later times, though, of course, the term covenant was not 
used. 

"It seems highly probable that other examples of early 
church oaths are to be found in the remaining literature of 
the period contained either in the reported confessions of 
Christians or in the early Christian writings. As to the origin 
of these church oaths, there is, it would seem, a reasonable 
explanation. It is a well-known fact that of the two classes 
of Jewish proselytes the "Proselytes of the Gate" "bound 
themselves to avoid . . . blasphemy, idolatry, murder, un- 
cleanness, theft, disobedience toward the authorities, and the 
eating of flesh with its blood." It was evidently a regular 
requirement imposed by the Jews that these Gentile Proselytes 
of the Gate should make such an oath. Likewise when the 
Jews became Christians and formed a Jewish Christian 
church, as in Jerusalem, they seem to have retained this cus- 
tom, and to have required of the Gentile Christians in An- 
tioch, as recorded in Acts 15 : 19, 20, and repeated in slightly 
different phraseology in ver. 29 of the same chapter, "that 



22 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

they abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from fornica- 
tion, and from what is strangled, and from blood." When 
Gentile or chiefly Gentile churches later began to be formed 
it is not surprising to find, therefore, especially in Asia Minor 
where Jewish influence was very strongly felt, that the church 
oath is recorded as being a custom within the church of Jesus 
Christ itself. How widely the use of the church oath spread 
among the early churches is probably as yet hidden in the 
records of antiquity still remaining. We know already, how- 
ever, the origin of the church oath, and the time and condi- 
tions of its origin, as given in the fifteenth chapter of the Acts 
of the Apostles." — Barrage: The Covenant Idea, pp. 11, 12. 

In the ages before the Reformation the covenant idea 
practically disappeared from the teaching of the church, but 
with the Reformation it reappeared, and first apparently in 
the teaching of the Anabaptists Mr. Burrage believes that the 
idea of a covenant can be found in the literature which im- 
mediately preceded the Reformation. 

In the year 1523, in a book written by Hans Locher, 
entitled "Ein tzeitlang gescliwigner cliristliclier Bruder," 
occurs the following: "If indeed, we have borne in us the 
likeness of the Father since the creation and if indeed we have 
given ourselves over to faith and service and have praised and 
sworn in baptism, after we received the garment of blameless- 
ness, to work for the Lord's profit, to avoid evil and to do 
good ; therefrom will follow our duty to obey his will with all 
possible industry. ' ' This was written unmistakably by an 
Anabaptist, as baptism is spoken of so prominently ; but this 
brotherhood evidently had had an existence for some time, at 
least, before the Reformation began, and apparently had be- 
come Anabaptist as the Reformation progressed, for the writer 
refers to his memory of the long history of his Society (alien 
GescMchte seiner Gemeinschaft) . 

Of the foregoing Burrage says : " In the above without 
doubt are the elements of the church covenant idea, the mem- 



THE COVENANT IDEA 23 

bers of the brotherhood giving themselves over to faith and 
service, and swearing, or promising, to work for the Lord's 
profit, to avoid evil, and to do good. Whether such a covenant 
was employed in this brotherhood before it became Anabaptist 
in belief, or in others that went through a like experience, is 
an open question. 

1 * The church covenant idea seems to have been of slow and 
uncertain evolution, and our knowledge of it in these earliest 
times is but meagre on account of the scarcity of printed 
records. Yet from 1523 to the present time one comes in his- 
tory again and again upon this idea, sometimes more, some- 
times less, clearly expressed." — The Covenant Idea, pp. 13, 14. 



III. THE SCOTCH COVENANTS 

The covenant idea received a new, and so far as we know, 
as entirely independent emphasis in the development of the 
Reformation in Scotland. We do not know from what source 
the Scotch people obtained the idea, but the rise of the Cove- 
nanters in the middle of the sixteenth century determined the 
destiny of Scotland . 

In speaking of the early Scotch covenants, James Kerr, 
d. d., says that the people of Scotland "were led to bind them- 
selves together in 'bands,' or covenants, and together to God, 
in prosecution of their aims. At Dun, in 1556, they entered 
into a 'Band' in which they vowed to 'refuse all society with 
idolatry.' At Edinburgh, in 1557, they entered into 'ane 
Godlie Band,' vowing that 'we, by his grace, shall, with all 
diligence, continually apply our whole power, substance, and 
our lives to maintain, set forward, and establish the most 
blessed word of God.' At Perth, in 1559, they entered into 
covenant 'to put away all things that dishonor his name that 
God may be truly and purely worshiped.' At Edinburgh, in 
1560, they entered into covenant 'to procure, by all means 
possible, that the truth of God's word may have free passage 
within this realm.' And these covenants were soon followed 
by the Confession of Faith prepared by Knox and five other 
reformers, and acknowledged by the three Estates as 'whole- 
some and sound doctrine grounded upon the infallible truth 
of God. ' ' ' — The Covenants and the Covenanters, pp. 12, 13. 

Fortunately the text of all the important Scotch Cove- 
nants has been preserved. The one signed in the winter of 
1557 by the early reformers, known as the First Covenant, 
reads as follows: 

24 



THE SCOTCH COVENANTS 25 

We, perceiving how Satan, in his members, the Antichrists of 
our time, cruelly doth rage, seeking to overthrow and to destroy 
the evangel of Christ and His Congregation, ought, according to 
our bounden duty, to strive in our Master's cause even unto the 
death, being certain of the victory in Him. The which our duty 
being well considered, we do promise, before the majesty of God 
and His Congregation, that we (by his grace) shall with all dili- 
gence continually apply our whole power, substance, and our 
very lives, to maintain, set forward, and establish the; most 
blessed Word of God and His Congregation; and shall labour at 
our possibility to have faithful ministers purely and truly to min- 
ister Christ's evangel and sacraments to His people. We shall main- 
tain them, nourish them, and defend them, the whole Congregation 
of Christ, and every member thereof, at our whole powers and 
wearing of our lives, against Satan, and all wicked power that does 
intend tyranny or trouble against the foresaid Congregation. Unto 
the which Holy Word and Congregation we. do join us, and also do 
forsake and renounce the congregation of Satan, with all the super- 
stitious abomination and idolatry thereof; and, moreover, shall de- 
clare ourselves manifestly enemies thereto, by this our faithful 
promise before God, testified to His Congregation, by our subscrip- 
tions at these presents. At Edinburgh, the 3d day of December 1557 
years. — Text from "The History of Scotland." By John Mill Burton. 

"A great advance was reached," says Doctor Kerr, "by 
the National Covenant of 1580. This National Covenant, or 
Second Confession of Faith was prepared by John Craig. . . 
Its original title was 'Ane Short and Generall Confession of 
the True Christiane Faith and Religione, according to God's 
verde and Actis of our Perlamentis, subscrybed by] the Kingis 
Majestie and his Household, with sindrie otheris, to the glorie 
of God and good example of all men, att Edinburghe, the 28 
day of Januare, 1580, and 14 yeare of his Majestie 's reigne.' " 

This covenant was subscribed again in 1590 and 1596, 
and was renewed February 28, 1638, and "was transcribed 
into hundreds of copies, carried throughout the country from 
north to south and east to west, and subscribed everywhere. ' ' 
The National Covenant, as finally renewed, is a long docu- 
ment, containing two additions to the original covenant, one 
summarizing the Acts of Parliament, the other consisting of 
special religious articles for the time. ("The Covenants and 
the Covenanters." By James Kerr, d. d., Edinburgh, 1895, 



26 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

p. 13). The following quotations will furnish some idea of 
the nature of this covenant: 

We all and every one of us under-written, protest, That, after 
long and due examination of our own consciences in matters of true 
and false religion, we are now thoroughly resolved in the truth by 
the Spirit and Word of God: and therefore we believe with our 
hearts, confess with our mouths, subscribe with our hands, and 
constantly affirm, before God and the whole world, that this only 
is the true Christian faith and religion, pleasing God, and bringing 
salvation to man, which now is, by the mercy of God, revealed to 
the world by the preaching of the blessed evangel; and is received, 
believed, and defended by many and sundry notable kirks and 
realms, but chiefly by the Kirk of Scotland, the King's Majesty, and 
three estates of this realm, as God's eternal truth, and only ground 
of our salvation. . . 

We Noblemen, Barons, Gentlemen, Burgesses, Ministers and 
Commons under-written, . . do hereby profess, and before, God, His 
angels, and the world, solemnly declare, That with our whole hearts 
we agree, and resolve all the days of our life constantly to adhere 
unto and to defend the aforesaid true religion, and (forbearing the 
practice of all novations. . .) to labour, by all means, to recover 
the purity and liberty of the Gospel, as it was established and pro- 
fessed before the foresaid novations. . . And therefore, from the 
knowledge and conscience of our duty to God, to our King and 
country, without any worldly respect or inducement, so far as hu- 
man infirmity will suffer, wishing a further measure of the grace of 
God for this effect; we promise and swear, by the great name of 
the Lord our God, to continue in the profession and obedience of 
the aforesaid religion. . . 

And because we cannot look for a blessing from God upon our 
proceedings, except with our profession and subscription we join 
such a life and conversation as beseemeth Christians who have 
renewed their covenant with God; we therefore faithfully promise 
for ourselves, our followers, and all others under us, both in public, 
and in our particular families, and personal carriage, to endeavour 
to keep ourselves within the bounds of Christian liberty, and to be 
good examples to others of all godliness, soberness, and righteous- 
ness, and of every duty we owe to God and man. 

And that this our union and conjunction may be observed with- 
out violation, we call the Living God, the Searcher of our Hearts, 
to witness, who knoweth this to be, our sincere desire and unfeigned 
resolution, as we shall answer to Jesus Christ in the great day, and 
under pain of God's everlasting wrath, and of infamy and loss of 
all honour and respect in this world: most humbly beseeching the 
Lord to strengthen us by his Holy Spirit for this end, and to bless 
our desires and proceedings with a happy success; that religion and 
righteousness may flourish in the land, to the glory of God, the 
honour of our King, and peace and comfort of us all. In witness 
whereof, we have subscribed with our hands all the premises. 



THE SCOTCH COVENANTS 27 

The last and most important covenant made in Scotland 
is that called the "Solemn League and Covenant" of 1643. 
One of the original copies of this is in the Manuscript Depart- 
ment of the British Museum. It is written on a roll of parch- 
ment several feet long, and about eight inches wide. In this 
document there are six articles, and a seventh, or conclusion, 

The long closing section is as follows : 

And because theis Kingdomes are guilty of many sinnes and 
proucacons against God and his sonne Jesus Christ, as is too man- 
ifest by our present distresses and dangers the fruts thereof wee 
professe and declare before God and the world our vnfained desire 
to bee humbled for our owne sines and for the sines of theis King- 
domes, especially that we haue not as wee ought, valued the inesti- 
mable Benefitt of the Gospel that wee haue not labored for the 
purity and power thereof and that wee have not endeauoured to 
receiue Christ in our harts nor to walk worthy of him in our Hues 
wch are the causes of other sines and transgessions soe much 
aboundinge amongst vs: And our true and vnfained purpose, de- 
sire, and endeauor for our selues, and all other vnder our power 
and charge both in publike and in priuate in all duties wee owe to 
God and man to amend our Liues and each one to goe before an- 
other in the example of A reall reformacon that the Lord may turne 
away his wrath & heauie indignacon & establish these Churches 
and Kingdomes in truth and peace. And this couenant wee make 
in the presence of Almyghty God the searcher of all harts wth a 
true intencon to reforme the same, as wee shall answer at the 
great day when the secrets of all harts shall be disclosed most hum- 
bly besseechinge the Lord to strengthen vs wth his holy Spirit for 
this end, & to blesse our desires & proceedings wth such successe 
as may be deliuerance and safety to his people & encouragment to 
other christian Churches groaninge vnder, or in danger of the yoke 
of Antichristian tyranny to Joyne in the same, or like assocacon 
and couenant to the glory of God the enlargment of the Kingdome 
of Jesus Christ and the peace and tranquilitie of Christian King- 
domes and common wealth. 
[Dated Mar: 3. 1643.] 

It is important to bear in mind that the Scotch covenants 
were not local church covenants, and in that important respect 
they differ from the covenants of the early Anabaptists and 
Congregationalists. They were signed by the inhabitants of 
cities or districts, and later they were endorsed by the people 
of the nation; the Solemn League and Covenant was even 
adopted by Parliament. But these covenants have an impor- 



28 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

tant relation to the church life of Scotland. They involve the 
recognition of the sovereignty of the individual soul and his 
right to enter into covenant relations with his God. They 
were written and signed documents, and their extension in 
Scotland marks an advance in the evolution of the covenant, 
particularly as compared with the practice of the Anabaptists 
on the continent. It is on these covenants that the national 
Scottish Presbyterian Church is founded. 



IV. EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 

In his History of Plymouth Plantations, Governor Brad- 
ford mentions a certain Mr. Fytz as pastor of a Congrega- 
tional Church in London before the days of Robert Browne. 
We are fortunate in being able to discover something about 
him, and even to be able to produce a short article from his 
pen. The article itself is very brief, but the story about it re- 
quires some space, and is well worth reading. For this little 
fragment from the pen of Richard Fytz may be the earliest 
covenant of an English Congregational church that has come 
down to us. 

The history of covenants in Congregational Churches 
practically begins with Robert Browne, but modern Congre- 
gationalism had its beginnings before his day. The first of 
the Puritans was Bishop John Hooper, who was born in Som- 
ersetshire about 1495, only three years after the discovery of 
America. In the persecution under Mary Tudor he died for 
his faith, being burned at the stake. Next in succession was 
Thomas Cartwright, who was born in Hertfordshire in 1535, 
to whom, as Doctor Dexter has well said, "must be assigned 
the chiefest place in bringing Puritanism in England to the 
dignity of a developed system." Under his leadership, by 
tongue and pen, it gained many adherents among both 
clergy and laity. By 1752 both Presbyterianism and Inde- 
pendency were fairly well defined as two varying aspects of 
this movement, and both grew until the Act of 1593 which 
made refusal to attend the established church, or any attempt 
at persuading others not to attend, an offense punishable with 
fine and imprisonment. From that time on those who would 
worship God otherwise than according to the will of Queen 

29 



30 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Elizabeth had the choice of silence, exile, or secret and dan- 
gerous meeting. All three of these courses were pursued by 
some of those who had been Puritans. 

On June 19, 1567, the Plumbers' Hall in London was hired, 
ostensibly for the celebration of a wedding. The police, in- 
specting the names of parties interested, may have been of 
opinion that weddings had become rather frequent in that 
group ; at any rate they resolved to be among those present. 
Probably there was a wedding; we cannot suspect the good 
people of deliberate falsehood in the matter; but if so, the 
wedding was not the only affair of interest that night. The 
police made a raid and discovered, what they anticipated, that 
the tenants of Plumbers' Hall were not engaged in the laud- 
able occupation of drinking themselves drunk at a marriage 
celebration, but were holding a religious meeting. About a 
hundred persons were present, of whom twenty-four men and 
seven women were arrested. The next day these appeared 
before the Lord Mayor of London and the Bishop Grindal of 
London, who was a Puritan at heart. The record of that 
hearing is preserved. The demeanor of Grindal and of the 
Lord Mayor was not unduly severe, but they failed to shake 
the accused in their conviction that the Church of England 
was wrong in the matter of vestments and other "idolatrous 
practices. ' ' 

In the report of the trial of the Plumbers ' Hall company 
there is no evidence of a church organization, but that does 
not prove that no such organization existed; the charge 
against them did not concern organization, but the separate 
meeting or conventicle. In this trial one of the accused said, 
' ' So long as we might have the "Word freely preached, and the 
Sacraments administered, without preferring of idolatrous 
gear above it, we never assembled together in houses." But 
there was an organization. In June, 1568, Bishop Grindal 
wrote to Bullinger concerning his discovery of a secret church, 
meeting sometimes in houses, sometimes in open fields, some- 






EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 31 

times in ships, in which they have service and the sacraments. 
He says, "Besides this they have ordained ministers, elders 
and deacons after their own way, and have even excommuni- 
cated some who had seceded from their church. The number 
of this sect is about two hundred, but consisting of more wo- 
men than men. The Privy Council have lately committed the 
heads of this faction to prison and are using every means to 
put a timely stop to this sect. ' ' 

On April 22, 1569, twenty-four persons were discharged 
from the Bridewell, ' ' besides seven women also prisoners, ' ' by 
order of "the right reverend father in God, Edmund, Bishop 
of London. ' ' This order was issued on the basis of a promise 
by William Bonam, preacher, to desist from holding private 
assemblies for worship, in which promise presumably these 
thirty other people joined. 

The first Congregational church in England was virtually 
organized in jail. The form under which the Plumbers' Hall 
assembly was held may or may not have been a formal organ- 
ization ; but in the Bridewell, a prison on the banks of the Fleet 
River, where the trial of Catherine of Argon had been held, 
this band of imprisoned Congregationalists compacted their 
organization. They elected Richard Fytz pastor and a man 
named Bowland as deacon. They called in no bishop or pres- 
bytery ; they did it by the right inherent in the congregation. 

Where the old Fleet Prison stood stands now Memorial 
Hall, the Congregational headquarters of Great Britain. 

Richard Fytz died in prison, or shortly after his release 
from prison, a martyr to his faith. We do not know much 
about him, but there are preserved three documents that give 
us at first hand the faith and polity of this church, and one 
of them is signed by the minister, and is doubtless (as both the 
others may be) the product of his pen. 

The shortest of these three is printed in black letter on a 
single page, and was probably prepared in the first instance 
as a defense against certain slanders that were circulated con- 



32 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

cerning this sect. But it appears to have had uses also as a 
kind of basis of organization, and it was printed in form 
suited to distribution in the congregation. There was another 
single sheet, printed in black letter, with nine solemn declar- 
ations of protest against the idolatry of the established church. 
Mr. Burrage regards the latter as a kind of covenant, and so 
for the purpose of protest it may have been. But our interest 
is not so much in this as in the more positive statement in the 
brief document called "The True Marks of Christ's Church." 
Two things only it insisted upon, the discipline, or fellowship, 
instead of canon law. We may regard it as the first platform 
of an organized church in modern Congregationalism. 

The question has been asked whether this church, so con- 
stituted, was connected in any organic way with that of the 
Pilgrims. So far as we know it was not. But it was connected 
with the separated church in Amsterdam, and from it came 
the organization of the church of which Henry Jacob was min- 
ister, of whose covenant and order we have full knowledge; 
and from that came many churches, some of which exist to 
this day. The Pilgrims in Holland were in touch with this 
movement, though not greatly influenced by it. There was 
historical continuity throughout the entire reign of Elizabeth 
with the movements which had gone before from the begin- 
nings of the English reformation, and with the movements 
which followed and still follow. 

John Robinson affirmed that, as the result of persecution, 
"there was not one congregation separated in Queen Mary's 
time that remained in Queen Elizabeth's. The congregations 
were dissolved, and the peersons in them bestowed themselves 
in their several parishes where their livings and estates were." 
(Justification, etc., Works, ii, 489.) It has become evident 
that Robinson was not strictly accurate in that statement. 
Perhaps he was a little too eager to disclaim any connection 
with Robert Browne, and wished to believe that the Pilgrim 
movement had grown up entirely distinct from the troubled 



EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 33 

and sometimes turbulent organizations of earlier years. But 
it grows increasingly evident that the roots of Pilgrim history 
go deeper than John Robinson realized. Many facts are hope- 
lessly lost to us, for meetings were held in secret, and there 
was no attempt to preserve evidence that might be used against 
them in court; but we are sure that congregations continued 
to meet in secret and that there was some continuity of or- 
ganization. 

THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL COVENANT 

By Richard Fytz 

The Order of the Priuye Church in London, which by the malice 
of Satan is falsely slandered, and euill spoken of. 

The myndes of them, that by the strengthe and workinge of the 
almighty, our Lorde Iesus Christ, haue set their hands and hartes, 
to the pure, vnmingled and sincere worshipinge of God, accordinge 
to his blessed and glorious worde in al things, onely abolishinge 
and abhorringe all tradicions and inuentions of man, whatsoever 
in the same Religion and Seruice of oure. Lord God, knowinge this 
alwayes, that the Christe, eyther hathe or else euer more continu- 
ally vnder the crosse striueth for to have. Fyrste and formoste, the 
Glorious worde and Euangel preached, not in bondage and subjec- 
tion, but freely, and purely, onleye and all together accordinge to 
the institution and good worde of the. Lorde Iesus, without any tra- 
dicion of man. And laste of all to haue, not the filthye Cannon Lawe, 
but dissiplyne onelye, and all together to the heavenlye and all- 
mighty worde of our good Lorde, Isus Chryste. 

(Signed) Richard Fytz, minister. 

This was printed on one side of a small leaf. The separ- 
ate and more elaborate covenant, similarly printed on another 
leaf, contained nine declarations of protest against the idola- 
try of the Church of England, ended with these solemn words : 

God geue us sterngth styl to stryue in suffryng vnder the crosse, 
that the blessed worde of our God may onley rule and haue the 
highest place, to cast downe strong holdes, to destroy or overthrow 
policies or imaginations, and euery high thyng that is exalted 
against the knowledge of God, and to bryng in to captiuitie or 
subjection, euery thought to the obedience of Christ, that the name 
and worde, of the eternal our Lorde God may be axalted and mag- 
nified above all thynges. — Quoted in Burrage, The Early English 
Dissenters, ii 3-15. 



34 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Of the church that was used to meet in the Fleet Prison, 
Daniel Buck, scrivener, testified thus on March 9, 1593 : 

"Being asked what vowe or promise hee made when hee 
came first to their Societie, he answereth & saytli he made ye 
Protestation, viz : That hee would walke with ye rest of them 
so long as they did walke in ye way of ye Lorde, & as farr as 
might be warranted by ye word of God." — Harleian Mss., 
7042, p. 399; quoted by Dr. Dexter in his "True Story of 
John Smyth" p. 69. 

The man to whom the modern Church is more indebted 
than to any other one man for the church covenant as we 
know it, is Robert Browne. To his leadership, not only his 
own age, but all coming ages, must pay tribute. He sets forth 
his ideas of the covenant in an epoch-making book, entitled," 
"A Booke Which Sheweth the life and manners of all true 
Christians, and howe vnlike they are vnto Turkes and Papistes 
and Heathen folke. By me, Robert Browne, Middlebvrgh, 
1f Imprinted by Richarde Painter. 1582. ' ' 

There are about ten short sections of this work, which it 
is essential for us here to examine. They are the following: 

1. Wherefore are we called the people of God and Christians? 
Because that by a willing Couenaunt made with our God, we are 
vnder the gouernement of God and Christe, and thereby do leade 
a godly and christian life. Christians are a companie or number 
of beleeuers, which by a willing couenaunt made with their God, 
are vnder the gouernement of God and Christ, and keepe his Lawes 
in one holie communion: Because they are redeemed by Christe 
vnto holines & happines for euer, from whiche they wej-e fallen 
by the sinne of Adam. 

36. Howe must the churche be first planted and gathered vnder 
one kinde of gouernement? 

First by a couenant and condicion, made on Gods behalfe. 

Secondlie by a couenant and condicion made on our behalfe. 

Thirdlie by vsing the sacrament of Baptisme to seale those 
condicions, and couenantes. 

The couenant on God's behalf is his agreement or partaking of 
condicions with vs that if we keepe his lawes, not forsaking his 
gouernment, hee will take vs for his people, & blesse vs accordingly. 

37. What is the couenant, or condicion on Gods behalfe? His 
promise to be our God and sauiour, if we forsake not his gouerne- 
ment by disobedience. 



EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 35 

Also his promise to be the God of our seede, while we are his 
people. Also the gifte of his spirit to his children as an inwarde 
calling and furtheraunce of godlines. 

His promise to his church, is his sure couenant, remembred, 
taught, and held by the church, and the seede thereof: whereby it 
onely hath assurance of saluation in Christ. 

38. What is the couenant or condicion on our behalf e? 

We must offer and geue vp our selues to be of the church and 
people of God. 

We must likewise offer and geue, vp our children and others, 
being vnder age, if they be of our households and we haue full 
power ouer them. We must make profession, that we are his people, 
by submitting our selues to his lawes and gouernement. 

The couenaunt on our behalfe, is our agreement and partaking 
of conditions with God, That he, shal be our God so long as wee 
keepe vnder his gouernement, and obey his lawes, and no longer. 

39. How must Baptisme be vsed as a seale of this couenaunt? 
They must be duelie presented, and offered to God and the 

church, which are to be Baptised. 

They must be duelie received vnto grace and fellowship. 

Baptisme is a Sacrament or marke of the outwarde church, 
sealing vnto vs by the wasshing of our bodies in water, and the 
word accordingly preached, our suffering with Christ to die vnto 
sinne by repentance, and our rising with him to liue vnto righteous- 
nes, and also sealing our calling, profession, and happines gotten 
by our faith in our victorie of the same Iesus Christ. 

Baptising into the bodie and gouernement of Christ, is when 
the parties Baptised are receyued vnto grace and fellowshippe, by 
partaking with the church in one Christian communion. 

In this book of Browne's, we have a singularly complete 
and valid conception of the covenant as related both to the 
individual Christian and the local church. To Browne the 
covenant is with God and is also the basis of church member- 
ship. 

Burrage raises the question whether Robert Browne is 
entirely or partly original in this work, or whether the ideas 
here expressed are in general borrowed from others who had 
preceded him, but more clearly thought out than hitherto had 
been the case ? 

He answers that Browne might, at least, have found the 
germ of his idea in a book entitled "The Hvmbel and vn- 
famed confession of the belefe of certain poore banished men, 
grounded vpon the holy Scriptures of God, and vpon the Ar- 



36 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

tides of that vndefiled and only vndoubtedly true Christian 
faith, which the only Catholicke (that is to say vniuersal) 
Churche of Christ professeth. " At the end of the book are 
the words, "From Wittonburge by Nicholas Dorcastor. Ann. 
M. D. liiii. [1554] the xiiii of May." From this the two fol- 
lowing passages may be quoted: 

This holy vniuersall church, as the sone in brightness, hath 
beanies of light, whereof it cometh to passe, that there be also 
particuler Churches or congregations. Where thoughe there be, but 
two or three gathered together in y e name of Christe, He is in the 
myddes amonge theim. 

Almightye God (who euer was and is merciful) dyd promis 
him [man] againe euerlastynge lyfe, which was laied vp in his 
owne sonne: but so that (accordyng as he, euen God hymselfe by 
an euerlasting decree, had appointed) he wold be satisfyed, recom- 
penced, and pacified againe, in the obedience of al his commaunde- 
mentes, by the same nature of man: Whych because of the cor- 
ruption of sinne, that had entred in to it by disobedience, could not 
fully satisfye the law, and therefore. God made an euerlasting 
couenaunt of mercye with mankinde, & promysed the blessed seede: 
namely, that hys owne son should put vpon him our nature, and 
therwith in innocency, satisfy the law, and bryng vs agayne into the 
fellowshyp of that euerlasting lyfe, whyche was lost thorow Adams 
disobediece. . . 

And what meane we els by thys, but euen to shew that it is an 
horrible thing, & farre out of order, that whyle the Lord in this his 
holy Sacramet [i.e., the Lord's Supper] offereth vs so large a coue- 
naut of mercy, we shal thincke scorne, to kepe the condicions there- 
of, and the rules that he hath prescribed vnto vs. No man doubtles 
(no not in Ciuile matters) would be so serued: wher like as it is 
no bargaine, till both parties be agreed, so cometh it to no perfect 
effecte, neither can it stand vnlesse the duties, codicions & promises 
be kept. Neuertheles this thing shal appeare muche more euident, 
if we compare the practise of these present miserable dayes, to the 
order of the Lord and his Apostles in the primitiue church, & lay 
the one, agaynst the other. As for the perfourmauce of the condi- 
cions on hys party, ther is no doubt: For wher as he couenanteth 
with vs in thvs holy Sacrament, so to feede, nourish, & comfort our 
consciences, that he wyl euen seale vs vnto his selfe, set hys marke 
vpo vs, and take vs for hys own. He certifieth vs assuredly, that 
vpon such condicions, as we also vpon our allegiaunce, are bound 
to kepe (whych we must either do, or els become vnworthy Re- 
ceauers to our damnatio) we haue felowship with him, and are 
partakers of the same eternal lyfe, that he hym selfe hath pur- 
chased for vs in hys body and bloud. 

It then appears, therefore, as Mr. Burrage points out, that 

more than twenty-five years before Robert Browne wrote "A 



EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 37 

Booke Which Sheweth" there had been printed in English 
one book, at least, which touched indirectly upon various 
views which he later brought out in that work. For instance, 
the idea of particular or congregational churches is hinted at, 
and though the method of organizing such churches by cove- 
nant is not distinctly given, yet the fundamental points from 
which the church covenant idea might have been developed 
are here clearly delineated. They are namely these : God has 
made a covenant of mercy with man on certain ' ' condicions. ' ' 
This covenant is offered in the Lord 's Supper. But there can 
be no bargain between God and men till both parties be agreed, 
and the covenant cannot stand "vnlesse the duties, condicions 
& promises be kept." In other words, though God has made 
this covenant from his side, yet it is no real covenant until 
men accept the "condicions" God has imposed, and so make 
a covenant on their own part, and thereby come into fellow- 
ship with God. In the sacrament of the Lord's Supper God 
seals men unto himself and sets his mark on them. The very 
thought that Browne especially emphasizes, namely, that a 
covenant has two aspects, a God- ward and a man- ward, and 
should be sealed in an outward manner, is all here. But Mr. 
Burrage also recognizes that there is much that Browne says 
which is not said by Dorcaster, and there are also some points 
which he looks at in a different light. Where, then, did he 
obtain his views on the covenant? Were some borrowed, and 
the rest the product of his own thinking ? We do not know : 
but for these ideas, in the form in which they have influenced 
the modern Church, we are indebted to Robert Browne. 

Robert Browne's book "A Book which Sheweth" etc., 
from which the foregoing quotation is made, was published at 
Middleburg, Holland, in 1582 : but Browne had already or- 
ganized a church in Norwich, England at a date earlier than 
that of the publication of this book. This is shown by Robert 
Browne 's work entitled ' ' A Trve and Short Declaration, both 
of the Gathering and Ioyning together of Certaine Persons: 



38 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

and also of the Lamentable Breach and Division which fell 
amongst them, ' ' of which probably the only known copy is in 
Lambeth Palace Library, London. In this book the organiza- 
tion of Browne's church in Norwich, in 1580-1, is described as 
follows : 

This is to lay the foundacion of Mat. 18 to preach and Babtize 
in the name of the Father teaching to obserue & doe, whatsoeuer 
saieth Christ, I haue commanded you, & this is to overthrow the 
foundacion to teach a toleration & practiseing of things, which are 
cotraie to the whole gouernment & kingdom of Christ, &c. 

The Order Agreed On for the Gviding & 

establishing of the companie in all Godlines, & such like This doc- 
trine before being shewed to the companie, & openlie preached 
among them manie did agree thereto, & though much trouble and 
persecution did followe, yet some did cleaue fast to the trueth, but 
some Fell awaie fro when triall by pursuttes, losses & imprison- 
ment came, & further increased then Robert, Barker, Nicholas Woe- 
dowes, Tatsel, Bond & soe others, forsooke vs also & held back, and 
were afraied at the first. There was a day appointed & an order 
taken, for redresse off the, former abuses & for cleauing to the 
Lord in greater obediece so a covenat was maed & ther mutual 
cosent was geue to hould to gether. 

There were certaine chief pointes proued vnto them by the 
scriptures all which being particularie rehersed vnto them with 
exhortation they agreed vpon them, & pronouced their agrement to 
ech thing particularlie, saiing, to this we geue our consent. First 
therefore thei gaue their consent, to ioine themselues to the Lord, 
in one couenant & felloweshipp together, & to keep & seek agrement 
vnder his lawes & government: and therefore did vtterlie flee & 
auoide such like disorders & wickednes, as was mencioned before. 
Further thei agreed off those which should teach them, and watch 
for the saluation of their soules, whom thei allowed & did chose 
as able & meete ffor that charge. For thei had sufficient triall and 
testimonie thereoff by that which thei hard & sawe by them, & had 
receaved of others. So thei praied for their watchfulnes & dili- 
gence, & promised their obedience. 

Likewise an order was agreed on ffor their meetinges together 
ffor ther exercises therein, as for praier, thanckesgiuing, reading of 
the Scriptures, for exhortation & edifiing, either by all men which 
had the guift or by those which had a speciall charge before others. 
And for the lawefulnes off putting forth questions, to learne the 
trueth, as iff anie thing seemed doubtful & hard, to require some to 
shewe it more plainly, or for anie to shewe it himself & to cause 
the rest to vnderstand it. Further for noting out anie speciall mat- 
ter of edifiing at the meeting, or for tolckig seuerally thereto, with 
some particulars, iff none did require publique, audience, or if no 



EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 39 

waightier matter were hadled of others. Againe it was agreed that 
ainie might protest, appeale, complaine,, exhort, dispute, reproue 
&c as he had occasion, but yet in due order, which Was then also 
declared. Also that all should further the kingdom off God in them- 
selues, & espe.ciallie in their charge & household, iff thei had anie, 
or in their freindes & companions & whosoeuer was Worthie. Fur- 
thermore thei particularlie agreed off the manner, howe to Watch 
to disorders, & reforme abuses, & for assembling the companie, for 
teaching priuatlie, & for warning and rebukeing both priuatlie & 
openlie, for appointing publick humbling in more rare judgemetes, 
and publik thankesgeuing in straunger blessinges, for gathering & 
testifiing voices in debating matters, & propounding them in the 
name off the rest that agree, for an order of chosing teachers, guides 
& releeuers, when thei want, for separating cleane from uncleane, 
for recleauing anie into the fellowship, for preseting the dailie suc- 
cesse of the church, & the wantes thereof, for seeking to other 
churches to haue their help, being better reformed, or to bring 
them to reformation, for taking an order that none contend openlie,, 
nor persecute, nor trouble disorderedly, nor bring false doctrine, 
nor euile cause after once or twise Warning or rebuke. 

Thus all things were handled, set in order & agreed on to the 
comfort off all, & soe the matter wrought & prospered by the good 
hand of God. 

This account gives us at least the substance of the first 
known church covenant made by Browne. The same covenant 
may have been renewed also in Browne's church after it had 
moved to Middleburg. ' ' First, therefore, thei gave their con- 
sent to ioine themselves to the Lord in one covenant." That 
was the basis of their fellowship. 

The substance also, of possibly the next earliest church 

covenant to be found, of the date 1588 or earlier, is given in 

the "deposition of William Clerke, taken 8 March, 1592," as 

follows : 

He sayth he hath bene of the forsayd congregation [of Sepa- 
ratists in the neighborhood of London] these foure or fyve years., 
and made promise to stand with the sd. congregation so long as 
they did stand for the truth and glory of God, being then of that 
congregation at that tyme about twenty, or thereabouts. — Harleian 
MSS., 7042: p. 110. Cited in Doctor Dexter's "Congregationalism," 
pp. 255, 256, note 2. 

After Browne's return from Middelburg in 1592, Francis 
Johnson became pastor of the above- mentioned brotherhood 
congregation. The covenants used in the church at Middle- 



40 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

burg in 1591, and also in the congregation at London in 1592 
or 1593, during Johnson's pastorates, have fortunately been 
preserved. 

We are told how Johnson came to employ a covenant in 
his church in Middleburg. Since 1589 or 1590, he had been 
pastor of "the church of English Merchants of the Staple" in 
that city. This was the church in which "Cartwright and 
Dudley Fenner had successively ministered," and therefore 
was not a Brownist congregation. In fact, Johnson had taken 
special pains to spy out the publications of the Separatists, 
and in 1591 he had the pleasure of seeing the whole edition 
of Barrowe and Greenwood's "Plaine Refutation" burned at 
Dort. He kept a copy for himself, however, that he might 
study their errors. The result was that he read the whole 
book, and evidently changed his views in a short time to such 
an extent that he drew up the following "Articles" (the term 
covenant is not used, but the document is in reality a cove- 
nant), the signing of which was withstood by Mr. Thomas 
Ferrers. Whether these articles were signed generally by the 
church is not known, but from the fact that Johnson was in 
London in 1592, and pastor of a Separatist church there, it 
may be inferred that his plan did not entirely please the 
church in Middleburg, for those who would not sign, even if 
they had formerly been members of the church, might be con- 
sidered so no longer. These articles of Francis Johnson prob- 
bably furnish us with the earliest known English church- 
covenant document, containing genuine Brownist-Separatist 
views, as our information of earlier covenants may be frag- 
mentary, and is drawn either from books or from manuscripts 
concerning Brownist court proceedings. The text of the docu- 
ment in hand reads as follows : 

Francis Johnson his articles, wch he vrged to be vnder written 
by the Englishe Marchants in Middleboroughe in October. 1591. 
withstoode by me Thomas Ferrers, then Deputie of the Companie 
there. 



EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 41 

Wee whose names are vnderwritten, doe beleeve and acknow- 
ledge the truthe of the Doctrine and fayth of our Lorde Jesus 
Christe, wch is revealed vnto vs in the Canon of the, Scriptures of 
the olde and newe Testament. 

Wee doe acknowledge, that God in his ordinarie meanes for 
the bringinge vs vnto and keepinge of vs in this faythe of Christe, 
And an holie Obedience thereof, hath sett in his Churche teachinge 
and rulinge Elders, Deacons, and Helpers: And that this his Ordi- 
nance is to continue vnto the ende of the worlde as well vnder 
Christian princes, as vnder heathen Magistrates. 

Wee doe willinglie ioyne, together to live as the Churche of 
Christe, watchinge one over another, and submittinge our selves 
vnto them, to whom the Lorde Jesus committeth the, oversight of 
his Churche, guidinge and censuringe vs according to the rule of the 
worde of God. 

To this ende wee doe promisse henceforthe to keepe what so- 
ever Christe our Lorde hath commanded vs, as it shall please him 
by his holie spiritt out of his worde to give knowledge thereof and 
abilitie there vnto. 

His opinions and exposicons vpon these 
fower Articles, as afore. 

That for anie wch haue bene of this Churche and will not 
vnder-write these wth promisse (as God shall inhable them) to 
stande to the forme and everie poynte of them, againste, men and 
Angells vnto the deathe; otherwise he may not be receaved as a 
member in this Churche. 

And allso that any man once havinge adioyned him selfe to 
this Englishe churche in Middleboroughe, he cannot fynde any 
warrant by the worde of God, that after the same partie is to ad- 
ioyne him selfe to anye other Churche, either in Englande or els 
where,* but there, as the Discipline is rightlie established, as in 
this Churche. 

Kobert Browne's church covenant idea seems generally, 
if not always, to have been accepted by the earliest Independ- 
ent churches, as Burrage remarks. In fact, without some such 
basal idea it would have been almost impossible to form a 
strictly Separatist church. Yet the word "covenant," does 
not appear to have been used by all the earliest Independent 
leaders. For the word " covenant" such expressions as " arti- 
cles "to be signed, "a promise," "an agreement," etc., were 
sometimes substituted. Oftentimes also the covenant idea 
seems to be implied by the use of such phraseology as " joyned 
by their willing consent." 



42 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

The degree in which the earliest Independent leaders ac- 
cepted the church covenant idea may be estimated somewhat 
from the following quotations. 

Barrowe and Greenwood, who were working for a Congre- 
gational polity between Brownism and Presbyterianism, in a 
paper sent to Cartwright about 1589, define the true church as 

A companie of Faithful people: separated from the vnbeleuers 
and heathen of the land: gathered in the name, of Christ, whome 
they truelie worship, and redily obey as thier only King Priest 
and Prophet [notice that these last words occur often in the text 
of later covenants, especially in America] : ioyned together as mem- 
bers of one bodie. — Dexter's Congregationalism," pp. 222-223. 

In this quotation the word "covenant" is not used, and 
in Barrowe 's chief treatise, entitled a "Brief Discouerie of the 
False Church," of the date 1590, the word "covenant" is 
evidently not employed. — Dexter's "Congregationalism," p. 
237. 

The following citation from the Confession of Faith of 
the exiled English church in Amsterdam originally drawn up 
in 1596, clearly indicates that the covenant idea was employed 
by the Separatists in Amsterdam : 

And being come forth of this antichristian estate vnto the free- 
dom and true profession of Christ, besides the instructing and well 
guyding of their owne families, they are willingly to ioyne together 
in christian communion and orderly covenant, and by free confes- 
sion of the faith and obediece of Christ to vnite themselves into 
peculiar and visible congregations: wherin, as members of one 
body wherof Christ is the only head, they are to worship and serve 
God according to his word, remembering to keep holy the Lords 
day. 

After the accession of James I. to the throne a petition 
was sent to him, in which the differences between the Separa- 
tists and the Church of England were set forth. The word 
"covenant" does not occur in this, but may be implied in the 
following : 

That every true visible church, is a company of people called 
and separated from the world by the word of God, and joyned to- 



EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 43 

gether by voluntarie profession of the faith of Christ, in the fellow- 
ship of the Gospell. — Dexter's "Congregationalism," p. 307. 

In a letter of Hugh. Bromhead, one of John Smyth's 
faithful followers, written about 1608, before Smyth's separa- 
tion, to William Hamerton of London is the following direct 
statement concerning the general use of the church covenant 
in the English churches of Holland : 

"Thirdly, we seek the fellowship of His faithful and 
obedient servants, and together with them to enter covenant 
with the Lord," etc. — J. Hunter: Founders of New-Ply- 
mouth, London, 1854. Appendix N, p. 167. 

In 1610 John Robinson published his "Testification of 
Separation from the Church of England." In this he says: 

A company consisting though but of two or three separated 
from the world whether vnchristian, or antichristian, and gathered 
into the name of Christ by a covenant made to walk in all the 
wayes of God knowen vnto them, is a church, and so hath the whole 
power of Christ. — Dexter's "Congregationalism," p. 393. 

In a work by Henry Jacob, however, printed at Leyden 
in 1610, and entitled "The Divine Beginning and Institution 
of Christ's true Visible or Ministerial Church," occurs the 
following definition of a Christian church: 

A true Visible & Ministeriall Church of Christ is a nomber of 
faithfull people joyned by their willing consent in a spirituall out- 
ward society or body politick, ordinarily coming together in one 
place instituted by Christ in his New Testament, & having the 
power to exercise Ecclesiastical government and all God's other 
spiritual ordinances (the means of salvation) in & for itself im- 
mediately from Christ. 

The absence of the word "covenant" from this descrip- 
tion has been noted and commented upon, but it is not very 
important. The idea is implied in the ' ' wulling consent ' ' and 
the "body politick" is the phrase afterward used in the May- 
flower Compact. Moreover, Jacob employed a covenant in his 
London Church, as we shall presently see. 

The manner in which the covenant was adopted appears 
to have varied in the different churches. John Murton has 



44 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

preserved for us an account of the manner in which John 
Robinson's church entered into covenant in 1606, which may 
or may not be quite accurate. He declares, ' ' That there was 
first one stood up and made a covenant, and then another, and 
these two joined together, and so a third, and these became a 
church. ' ' This record may not be wholly accurate. We have 
a much more detailed and interesting account of the covenant 
as it was adopted in the church organized ten years later in 
London under the pastoral care of Henry Jacob. The manner 
in which Jacob's Church was formed in 1616, has been re- 
corded most fully in the W. A. Jessey Records, found in the 
Gould Manuscript. The following is the account: 

The Church Anno 1616 was gathered 
Hereupon ye said Henry Jacob wth Sabine Staismore, ... & 
divers others well informed Saints haveing appointed a Day to 
Seek ye Face of ye Lord in fasting & Prayer, wherein that pertic- 
ular of their Union, togeather as a) Church was mainly comended 
to ye Lord: in ye ending of ye Day they ware United, Thus. Those 
who minded this present Union & so joyning togeather joyned both 
hands each wth other Brother and stood in a Ringwise: their intent 
.being declared, H Jacob and each of the Rest made some confession 
or Profession of their Faith & Repentance, some ware longer some 
ware briefer, Then they Covenanted togeather to walk in all Gods 
Ways as he had revealed or should make known to them. 

The covenant idea was not allowed to go unchallenged. 
The church polity of the Puritans was avowedly based on the 
New Testament and the word "covenant" came to them out 
of the Old Testament. In 1588, Stephen Bredwell published a 
book called "The Rasing of the Foundations of Brownisme" 
in which he attacked the covenant idea. He said : 



A Church which consisteth of beleeuing people, builded so by 
fayth, vppon Iesus Christ the heade corner stone is in a two folde 
condition to be considered: the first is the verie knitting vnto 
Christ, wherein alone standeth the life and beeing of a Church, and 
in nothing else. 

And like as euerie one particularly is iustifyed for a Christian, 
through their onely vniting with Christ by fayth, euen so are manie 
together iustified for a Church of Christ, through such vnion with 



EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 45 

him onely. And then, if this vnion giue it the forme of a Church, 
it muste necessarilie bee a Church, before it practise discipline,, 
because our discipline in question hath no place, but in an vnited 
bodie, or congregation. 

The other thing that I would haue the reader perfect in is this : 
that this Troublechurch Browne, not receyuing the loue of the 
trueth, touching the being of a Church in Christ by faith, but striu- 
ing for other groundes and essentiall causes thereof, which the 
Lorde neuer acknowledged, is (in a heauie, though iust iudgement), 
compassed about with a strong delusion, so as hee hath not ab- 
stained from defiling the verie couenant of life,, to his owne, and 
all that follow after him, most certaine destruction, if the balme of 
Gods grace bee not sent in time to heale them. For in the forepart 
of his answere to maister Cartwright, he miserablie confoundeth the 
couenant of the lawe with the couenant of the Gospel. Whereof the 
first hath the condition of workes a part: the other is made simplie 
without condition of workes, if we belieue only. He abuseth to his 
purpose a number of places, all which proue that the establishment 
of the couenant of grace hath necessarily good works ioyned with- 
all, as effects or fruits, but not as causes, and so any part of the 
couenant, as he grossely supposeth. 

The matter of a church wee haue. Let us nowe see what may 
be the fourme. . . For as it is likewise agreeable to all reason, that 
the vniting and knitting together of Christ and Christians, bee 
graunted the formall cause of a Church. Nowe this vnition is by 
two meanes, the one eternall, the other seruing but for this life. . . 
The temporal vnition, which (as I sayd) serueth for this life, is by 
faith: which shall cease in the day of the reuelation of the Saincts 
of God. . . Meane time, faith is as the engrafting of the braunches 
into the stock. 

Here we meete with that foolishe and vayne exception of 
Browne agaynst Ma. C. [artwright] namely, That Christ is the life 
and essence of the Church, and not faith, which is, as though faith 
had not direct relation to Christ, and Christ to faith in this consid- 
eration of a Church, wherein neyther can fayth bee considered with- 
out Christ, nor yet Christ as theyr head without faith. 

The Anabaptists had been forerunners in the employment 
of the covenant idea, and Baptist authors have sometimes in- 
sisted that the early Congregationalists, not even excepting 
Robert Browne, must have learned it from the Baptists. But 
the Baptists ceased to hold it as their own. In proportion as 
they laid emphasis upon the mode of baptism the supreme 
importance of the covenant ceased to occupy its place in their 
thought; while with the Congregationalists the covenant at- 
tained to an importance little if anything less than sacra- 
mental. 



46 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

In a book entitled "A Defence of the Doctrine Propound- 
ed by the Synode at Dort : against Iohn Mvrton and his Asso- 
ciates, in a Treatise intutled; A Description what God, &c. 
With the Refutation of their Answer to a Writing touching 
Baptism. By Iohn Robinson. Printed in the year, 1624, ' ' are 
the following passages, referring to Murton 's mature views 
concerning the formation of churches of Christ: 

Now followeth our main foundation, that as the infants of Abra- 
ham, and of the Israelites his posterity, were taken into the Church- 
covenant, or covenant of life and salvation, as they [Murton and his 
associates] call it (and rightly in a true sense) with their parents, 
and circumcised: so are the infants of the faithfull now, and to 
receiv accordingly the seal of Baptism: to which they say, and 
proue (as they say) that neither Circumcision was, nor Baptism is 
a seal of the Covenant of salvation, but the spirit of promise which 
is ever the same. 

Murton and his associates teach : 

That members, and Churches of Christ are made both by faith, 
and baptism, and not by the one only. They oft say, but never 
proue, that Churches are gathered by baptism. 

Commenting on the above Burrage says, "From the above 
quoted passages alone we are obliged to draw our conclusions 
as to the method used in forming the earliest Baptist churches 
in England. One point is clear, namely, that from 1611 at 
least Murton and Helwys emphasized repentance, faith, and 
especially baptism as the means of "gathering" or organizing 
a Christian church. It would also appear that even from 
1608 or 1609 they had held this view with Smyth, and had 
formed their first church by baptism, though as we have seen, 
they probably made also covenant promises. But after Smyth 
and his followers had been driven out, Helwys and Murton 
evidently continued to modify their opinions till the idea of a 
church covenant became of no importance. 

"From this time their churches were to be gathered by 
faith and baptism. With them baptism had come to take the 
place of a church covenant, for one now entered the church by 



EARLY ENGLISH COVENANTS 47 

baptism. However, in a sense the covenant idea was still 
maintained by them, but not the church covenant idea of 
Browne. Baptist churches were not to be outside the covenant 
promises because they did not use an explicit church covenant. 
Baptism is, as it were, the act of making an implicit covenant, 
or rather is the means of entering, into the new covenant, 
which is not a church covenant, but is a 'covenant of grace 
and salvation,' the covenant of the New Testament, which 
always remains the same, has been made forever on God's part, 
and the benefits of which may be had by any who believe the 
gospel and are baptized. 

"It is therefore probable that even when Helwys and 
Murton founded the first Baptist church in England at Lon- 
don, no explicit church covenant was employed, and if not 
then, certainly not later. — The Covenant Idea, pp. 77-78. 

Burrage also says of Baptist Churches in America, "The 
two earliest Baptist Churches in this country were organized 
before 1640, namely the First Church in Providence, R. I., 
formed in 1638, and the church in Newport, R. I., founded not 
long after. The Providence church, however, never adopted a 
covenant, and the records of the Newport church in the early 
days were in the hands of the pastors, and have but partially 
been preserved, so that its original church covenant, if indeed 
there was one, is no longer known." — The Covenant Idea, 
p. 95. 



V. THE PILGRIM COVENANT 

Most interesting and important among all the early cove- 
nants is that of the church of the Pilgrim Fathers. This cove- 
nant is referred to by Cotton Mather in his Magnalia, and 
given in substance in Bradford's History, and partially also 
in Edward Winslow's "Hypocrisie Unmasked." This church 
had its beginning at Gainsborough — 1602. It is thought to 
have remained intact till 1606, when some of the members 
removed to Scrooby, where John Robinson became their pas- 
tor. In 1607 and 1608 this section of the church went to* Am- 
sterdam, and in 1609 to Leyden. The other part of the church 
in 1607, with the pastor, John Smyth, later founder of the 
English General Baptists, crossed to Amsterdam. 

Prof. Edward Arber, f. s. a., in his "Story of the Pilgrim 
Fathers," has suggested some new points in regard to the 
churches at Gainsborough and Scrooby that are important for 
us, as they bear indirectly upon the covenants used in these 
churches. 

Speaking of the peasants of the Pilgrim District he says : 

Herein, They were more fortunate in their intellectual develop- 
ment than Shakespeare. They had educated leaders. He had none. 
Clyfton, Brewster, Robinson ,and Smyth were all Cambridge Uni- 
versity men; and but for them there never would have been any 
Pilgrim Fathers at all. So going back to the ultimate facts, we 
say that the Pilgrim movement originated in the rectory and church 
of Bab worth in Nottinghamshire; and that it was mainly a Notting- 
hamshire movement. 

To this rectory, then, some forty-five months before Governor 
Bradford was born, came this Derbyshire man, the Rev. Richard 
Clyfton, aet. 33. He was what was then called a "forward [advanced] 
preacher, or a reformist." 

We have adduced, at pp. 133, 134, irrefutable evidence that, on 
the 22d March, 1605, the Rev. John Smyth was still a conformist 
minister, and preacher of the city of Lincoln. So that, at that date, 

48 



THE PILGRIM COVENANT 49 

he had not even come to Gainsborough, where, after nine months of 
doubting, he finally adopted the principles of the Separation. The 
formation of the Gainsborough Church cannot therefore be earlier 
than 1606. 

We are not aware of any evidence tending to prove in the 
slightest degree that Robinson was ever a member of Smyth's 
church; and we have proved, at pp. 133, 134, that the Gainsborough 
Church was not established till 1606. Therefore if Robinson went 
north in 1604, he must have gone to Scrooby." 

So that, although Clyfton deserted the Pilgrim church in 1609, 
he must ever be regarded as the senior of the leaders of that 
Separation. . . The Separatist movement continued to grow; but,, 
as Governor Bradford tells us at page 70, the church at Scrooby was 
not formally organized till 1606, when the late rector of Babworth 
[Clyfton] became its pastor, and the Rev. John Robinson became 
his assistant, with probably one, or more deacons. — "The Story of 
the Pilgrim Fathers, 1606-1623 A. D.; as told by Themselves, their 
Friends, and their Enemies." London, Boston, and New York, 1897, 
pp. 48-52, 54. 

Apparently the first covenant was in 1602, and of it Cot- 
ton Mather says, — 

A Number of devout and serious Christians in the English 
Nation, finding the Reformation of the Church in that Nation, ac- 
cording to the Word of God, and the Design of many among the 
First Reformers, to labour under a sort of hopeless Retardation, 
they did, Anno 1602, in the, North of England, enter into a Cove- 
nant, wherein expressing themselves desirous, not only to attend 
the Worship of our Lord Jesus Christ, with a freedom from humane 
Inventions and Additions, but also to enjoy all the Evangelical 
Institutions of that Worship, they did like those Macedonians, that 
are therefore by the Apostle Paul commended, give themselves up, 
first unto God, and then to one another. 

The text of the covenant adopted at Scrooby in 1606 is 
contained in the following passage from Bradford : 

So many therefore of these proffessors as saw ye evill of these 
things, in thes parts and whose harts ye Lord had touched wth 
heavenly zeale for his trueth, they shooke of this yoake of anti- 
christian bondage, and as ye Lords free people, joyned them selves 
(by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate, in ye fellowship 
of ye gospell, to walke in all his wayes, made known, or to be made, 
known unto them, according to their best endeavours, whatsoever 
it should cost them, the Lord assisting them. 

Edward Winslow's recollection in 1646 of John Robin- 
son's last word concerning this covenant, in his farewell ad- 



50 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

dress to the Pilgrim Fathers, is that "Here also he put us in 
mind of our Church- Covenant (at least that part of it) where- 
by wee promise and covenant with God and one with another, 
to receive whatsoever light or truth shall be made known to 
us from his written Word." 

Of the sacredness of the covenant idea as it was held in 
the church of the Pilgrims, we are assured in many ways, 
especially in a letter signed by John Kobinson and William 
Brewster, and dated Leyden, December 15, 1617, to Sir Edwin 
Sandys, in reply to a letter of his dated London, Nov. 12, 1617. 
This answer contains a direct reference to the church cove- 
nant : 

' ' 4. We are knit together as a body in a more strict and 
sacred bond and covenant of the Lord, or the violation of 
which we make conscience ; and by virtue whereof we do hold 
ourselves straightly tied to all care of each other's good, and 
of the whole by every, and so mutual." — New England's 
Memorial, 1669, by Nathaniel Morton. 



VI. CHURCH AND COMMUNITY COVENANTS 

The church covenant idea was not simply popular in New 
England, it became the distinguishing characteristic of its 
life and organization. Originally intended as a basis for 
churches, it came in time to be used for the organization of 
towns. A notable instance is that of Guilford, Conn., es- 
tablished in 1639. The covenant was signed on shipboard 
before the colonists reached New England and was signed by 
twenty-five colonists. Doubtless this method would have be- 
come still more general had it not been that in 1631 the Massa- 
chusetts General Court prescribed that the franchise should 
be limited to church members. As therefore the church or- 
ganization and the town organization were virtually identical 
there was seldom need of a separate covenant for the town 
and the Guilford covenant stands as a notable example of 
the application of the church covenant idea to town organi- 
zation. The covenant is as follows: 

We whose names are hereunder written, intending by God's 
gracious permission to plant ourselves in New England, and, if it 
may be, in the southerly part about Quinnipiack, we do faithfully 
promise each to each, for ourselves and our families, and those 
that belong to us, that we will, the Lord assisting us, sit down and 
join ourselves together in one entire plantation, and to be helpful 
each to the other in any common work, according to every man's 
ability, and as need shall require; ... As for our gathering to- 
gether in a church way, and the choice of officers and members to 
be joined together in that way, we do refer ourselves until such 
time as it shall please God to settle us in our plantation. — Rev. J. B. 
Felt, in "Ecclesiastical History of New England," Vol. 1, pp. 406, 407. 

Another, and important instance of the covenant used as 
the basis of organization both for community and church, was 
that, of New Haven. Led by Davenport and Eaton, the found- 
Scripture holds forth." " During these toilsome first months 

51 



52 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

ers had arrived at "their desired haven" in the early spring 
of 1638, but not until fourteen months later, after much 
prayer, study and discussion, did they consider the business 
fully mature for action. Soon after their landing they had 
made a provisional "plantation covenant" mutually pledging 
themselves to be governed in their future action relating either 
to the church or to the civil order, ' ' by those rules which the 
of the new plantation," says Bacon, "while their views of 
polity in church and state were so deliberately canvassed, they 
were not without organization. The town was 'cast into sev- 
eral private meetings wherein they that dwelt most together 
gave their accounts one to another of God's gracious work 
upon them, and prayed together, and conferred to mutual 
edification, and had knowledge one of another.' " When at 
last they were assembled in Mr. Newman's barn the solemni- 
ties of the day were introduced by a sermon from Davenport 
on this text, ' ' Wisdom hath builded her house ; she hath hewn 
out her seven pillars." By common consent it was agreed 
' ' that twelve men be chosen, that their fitness for the founda- 
tion-work may be tried;" and "that it be in the power of 
these twelve to choose out of themselves seven that shall be 
most approved of the major part, to begin the church." It 
was the 14th of June, 1639, when "the seven pillars" were 
hewn out. By covenant among themselves, and by receiving 
others into the same compact, it was held that a church was 
constituted on the 22d of August. "With one accord they 
accepted so much of the Separatist polity as to hold that the 
church existed by virtue of a mutual agreement (either tacit 
or expressed) among certain individual believers that they 
would be a church. It is easy to believe that the example and 
argument of the Plymouth Separatists had less to do in bring- 
ing them to this position, than the exigencies of the situation. 
To the extreme tenets of the extreme Separatists, renouncing 
fellowship with faithful ministers and worshippers in the 



CHURCH AND COMMUNITY COVENANTS 53 

Church of England, the churches of New England generally 
gave no adhesion." — Bacon: Congregationalists, p. 51. 

The most notable example of the use of the covenant idea 
in secular organization is afforded us in the relation of the 
Pilgrim covenant itself to that of the Mayflower Compact. 
That is, indeed, one of the notable incidents of modern history. 
The new edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica tells that 
Theodore Roosevelt laid the cornerstone of the Pilgrim monu- 
ment in Provincetown, on August 7, 1907, and that somebody 
dedicated it three years later, but entirely forgets that it was 
William H. Taft who delivered the principal address on the 
day of dedication. We have been reading the addresses of 
both presidents, the one which President Taft addressed to 
the people who heard him, and the one which President Roose- 
velt addressed to Wall Street, and those of the eminent speak- 
ers who were with them on both occasions. All were addresses 
of note ; and the one by Senator Lodge on the first occasion — 
for he was the one man who spoke on both occasions — was a 
notable interpretation of the Mayflower compact. But of them 
all on both days, only one address, that by President Eliot, 
caught the historic setting of the Mayflower compact. 

President Roosevelt, as everybody knows, mixed up the 
Pilgrims and the Puritans, and then proceeded to hit the big 
corporations with a big stick. To this day they remember the 
Provincetown address. What he said about the corporations 
does not now concern us. What he said about the Puritans, 
whom he supposed landed at Provincetown, was this : 

"We have gained a joy of living which the puritan had 
not and which it is a good thing for every people to have and 
to develop. Let us see to it that we do not lose what is more 
important still, that we do not lose the Puritan's iron sense 
of duty, his unbending, unflinching will to do the right as it 
was given him to see the light. ' ' 



54 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

President Taft was more cautious and said nothing that 
disturbed business. He delivered a short and graceful address, 
in which he said : 

" Other efforts had been made on the New England coast 
to found colonies for profit before this. But theirs was the 
first attempt by men seeking political and religious independ- 
ence to secure an asylum in America where they might escape 
the fussy, meddling, narrow and tyrannical restraints imposed 
by the first of the Stuarts. Out of the logic of their intellect- 
ual processes there came ultimately religious freedom, while 
in their energy and, intensity of their religious faith they un- 
complainingly met the hardships that were inevitable in their 
search for liberty." 

Ambassador James Bryce spoke appreciatively of America's 
heritage from the Pilgrims, and said : 

' ' It was their loyalty to truth and to duty that moved them 
to quit their English homes and friends and face the rigors 
of a winter far harsher than their own in an untrodden land 
where enemies lurked in trackless forests. Faith and duty 
when wedded to courage, for without courage they avail little, 
are the most solid basis on which the greatness of a nation 
can rest." 

Senator Henry Cabot Lodge delivered a really able ad- 
dress on the first occasion, and one of considerable value on the 
second. He had some difficulty in keeping out of his own way, 
but the two speeches were thoroughly worthy of the occasions 
on which they were delivered. In the first of them he spoke 
with fine penetration of the principles of the Mayflower Com- 
pact: 

"All the men signed the compact. The compact did not 
establish representative government. That was to come later, 
and was something familiar- to all Englishmen. It was not 
the beginning of representative government on this continent ; 
that had taken place the year before, when the Virginia burg- 



CHURCH AND COMMUNITY COVENANTS 55 

esses were summoned by the Governor in accordance with the 
terms of a charter prepared in England. The men in the May- 
flower were called to their task by no governor, and their com- 
pact was not drawn in England, but here. It was the volun- 
tary and original act of those who signed it, and it embodied 
two great principles or ideas. The first was that the people 
themselves joined in making, the compact each with the other. 
The second principle was that this agreement thus made was 
the organic law or constitution, to be changed only in great 
stress and after submission to the entire body politic and 
with the utmost precaution. The force and worth of this great 
conception have been attested since by almost countless con- 
stitutions of governments, both at home and abroad. Under 
that theory of government we have preserved the sober liberty, 
freedom and ordered liberty which have been, the glory of the 
Republic. The little company of the Mayflower, pathetic in 
their weakness and suffering, imposing and triumphant in 
what they did, has belonged to the ages these many years. 
The work they wrought has endured, and we would not barter 
their inheritance for the heritage of kings. But that which 
was greatest in their work was the conception of the organic 
law embodied in the compact, a conception full of wisdom 
and patience, prefiguring a commonwealth in which order 
and progress were to go hand in hand. ' ' 

But for a real interpretation of the religious history lying 
back of the compact, it remained for President Eliot to refer 
to that, and to trace the evolution of the compact from the 
earlier covenant to the church. He said : 

"In the cabin of the Mayflower, on the 21st day of Novem- 
ber, 1620, all the adult males of the company signed a com- 
pact by which they set up a government which did not derive 
its powers, like all previous colonies, from a sovereign or par- 
ent state, but rested on the consent of those to be governed 
and on manhood suffrage. The act was apparently unpre- 
meditated, and the language of the compact was direct and 



56 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

simple. It was an agreement, or covenant, or cooperative act, 
from which was to spring not only a stable government for the 
little colony, but a great series of constitutions for free states. 
The most remarkable phases in this compact are, ' covenant 
and combine ourselves into a civil body politic, ' and ' by virtue 
hereof.' . . . 

"Although the signing of that compact was a sudden act, 
caused by the refusal of the captain of the Mayflower on the 
day before to take his vessel through the dangerous shoals 
which lie off the southeastern coast of Massachusetts and so 
bring it to the Hudson River, where the English charter ob- 
tained by the Pilgrims before leaving Leyden authorized them 
to establish their colony, it was an act which the whole ex- 
perience of their church in England and in Holland, and the 
essence of the doctrines taught by their pastor and elders nat- 
urally though unexpectedly led up to. They had been trained 
to disregard all authority which they had not themselves insti- 
tuted or accepted, and they had also become accustomed to 
cooperative action for the common good. Indeed, the whole 
doctrine and method of cooperative good- will cannot be better 
stated today than it was stated by Robinson and Bradford in 
1618 in one of their five reasons for the proposed emigration 
from Holland to America: 'We are knit together in a body 
in a most strict and sacred bond and covenant of the Lord, of 
the violation whereof we make great conscience, and by virtue 
whereof we do hold ourselves straightly tied to care of each 
other 's good and of the whole by every one, and so mutually. ' 
Everything that is good in modern socialism is contained in 
that single sentence, with nothing of the bad or foolish. ' ' 

One of the most interesting and significant facts in the 
life of the Pilgrim community that later settled in Plymouth 
is the calm and undisputed assurance which they had of their 
right, as the people of God, to organize a Church with full 
authority to do all that any church could do, and later to 
establish a State with trial by jury, and the right to enact 



CHURCH AND COMMUNITY COVENANTS 57 

and execute just laws, not even excepting the right to inflict 
capital punishment, to declare war and to enter into treaties. 
The account of both these organizations is contained in the 
Bradford manuscript, the first apparently in the year 1606, 
and the other under date of November 11, Old Style, 1620. 
The earlier of these two initial records reads, — 

So many therefore of these processors as saw ye evill of these 
things, in thes parts, and whose harts ye Lord had touched with 
heavenly zeal for his trueth, they shooke, of this yoake of anti- 
christian bondage, and as ye Lord's free people, joyned them selves 
(by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate, in ye fellowship 
of ye gospell, to walke in all his wayes, made known or to be made 
known to them, according to their best endeavours, whatever it 
should cost them, the Lord assisting them. And that it cost them 
something this ensewing historie will declare. 

In the organization of this and similar churches, they 
asked no authority from any king, pope or bishop. As ''the 
Lord's free people" they created a Church, and obtained 
their authority direct from God. 

It is no accident that records the church organization 
first and the organization of the civil body later. The common 
phrase which speaks of "civil and religious liberty" inverts 
the historic order. Religious liberty came first, and civil lib- 
erty grew out of it. 

In quite as dignified a manner, and one as free from any 
question of their inherent right, they organized their State, 
not as a poor substitute for royal authority, but as something 
"as firme as any patent" from the Crown, "and in some re- 
spects more sure." 

I shall a litle returns backe and begine with a combination 
made by them before they came ashore, being ye first foundation of 
their governmente in this place; occasioned partly by ye discon- 
tented and mutinous speeches that some of the strangers amongst 
them had let fall from them in ye ship — That when they came 
ashore they would usei their own libertie; for none had power to 
command them, the patente they had being for Virginia, and not for 
New-england, which belonged to an other Government, with which 
ye Virginia Company had nothing to doe. And partly that shuch an 



58 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

acte by them done (this their condition considered) might be as 
firme as any patent, and in some respects more sure. 

The forme was as followeth: 

In ye, name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, 
the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by 
ye Grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender 
of ye faith, & c, haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God, and ad- 
vancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king & coun- 
trie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of 
Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in ye presence 
of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves togeather 
into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & preservation & 
furtherance of ye ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, 
constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, 
constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most 
meete & convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which 
we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness wherof 
we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape-Codd ye 11, of 
November, in ye year of ye raigne of our soveraigne lord, King 
James, of England, Franc, & Ireland ye eighteenth, and of Scotland 
ye fiftie fourth. Ano: Dom. 1620. 

The government of the Congregational Churches, and of 
the United States are closely related both in substance and in 
history. The form of government, which the Pilgrims based 
on manhood suffrage and the authority of God in the affairs 
of the Church, they wrought into the foundation of their 
little republic at Plymouth Rock. Virtually a government 
which derives its just powers from the consent of the governed 
is a government based on a covenant between the citizens and 
the commonwealth. 



VII. EARLY AMERICAN COVENANTS 

Whether the Puritan churches of New England would 
follow the Plymouth Church in its form of organization, was 
a more important question than any one at the time could well 
have realized. The opportune visit of Doctor (and Deacon) 
Fuller of Plymouth to Salem at the time of a general sickness 
in Salem appears to have had much to do with dispelling the 
erroneous impression of the leaders of the Salem colony con- 
cerning the supposed dangers of the Plymouth form of organi- 
zation. Whatever prejudgments the Salem people had formed 
against the Separatists melted away under the kindly minis- 
trations of Deacon Fuller, and under his statement of the 
principles and usages of the Plymouth church. The letter of 
thanks from Endicott to the governor of Plymouth is a classic 
in American church history, and a fine tribute to the good 
work which Dr. Fuller did for the body and soul of Salem : 

To the "Worshipful and my Tight worthy Friend, William Bradford, 

Esq., Governor of New Plymouth, these: 
Right Worthy Sir: 

It is a thing not usual that servants to one master and of the 
same household should be strangers; I assure you I desire it not — 
nay, to speak more plainly, I cannot be so to you. God's people are 
marked with one and the same mark and sealed with one and the 
same seal, and have, for the main, one and the same heart guided by 
one and the same Spirit of truth; and where this is there can be 
no discord — nay, there must needs be sweet harmony. The same 
request with you I make unto the Lord, that we may, as Christian 
brethren, be united by a heavenly and unfeigned love, bending all 
our hearts and forces in furthering a work beyond our strength, 
with reverence and fear fastening our eyes always on him that only 
is able to direct and prosper all our ways. 

I acknowledge myself much bound to you for your kind love, 
and care in sending Mr. Fuller among us; and I rejoice much that 
I am by him satisfied touching your judgments of the outward form 
of God's worship. It is as far as I can yet gather, no other than is 

59 



60 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

warranted by the evidence of truth, and the same which I have 
professed and maintained ever since the Lord in mercy revealed 
himself to me ; being very far different from the common report that 
hath been spread of you touching that particular. But God's child- 
ren must not look for less here below, and it is the great mercy of 
God that he strengthens them to go through with it. 

I shall not need at this time to be tedious unto you; for, God 
willing, I purpose to see your face shortly. In the meantime, I 
humbly take my leave of you, committing you to the Lord's blessed 
protection, and rest. Your assured loving friend and servant, 

John Endicott. 

The Salem church was organized in 1629 with the follow- 
ing covenant, only forty-one words in length: 

The Salem Covenant of 1629. 

"We Covenant with the Lord and one with another; and doe 
bynd ourselves in the presence of God, to walke together in all his 
waies, according as he is pleased to reveale himself unto us in his 
Blessed word of truth. 

The church in Dorchester was organized with a similar 
covenant and probably of no greater length, though its exact 
text has been lost. 

Concerning the early Puritan churches, Edward Winslow, 
in describing the way in which the Massachusetts men, in some 
things, copied after the Plymouth way, says : 

Which being by them well weighed and considered, they 
also entred into Covenant with God, and one with another to 
wulke in all Ms wayes revealed, or, as they should bee made 
knowne unto them, and to worship Jiim according to Ms will 
revealed in Ms written word onely. — Hypocrisie Unmasked, 
etc. (1646), 92. 

There was little discussion, if any, concerning the length 
or precise content of church covenants. Each minister wrote 
his own. The value was never assumed to be in a precise form 
of words, but there were discussions as to whether the cove- 
nant should be assented to orally, or whether silence might 
give consent to a covenant publicly read, and as to whether 
a covenant should be signed. No great stress was laid upon 



EARLY AMERICAN COVENANTS * 61 

these discussions, but in general there was little disposition to 
insist upon signing the covenant; confession with the mouth, 
in the presence of God's people, was deemed the more orderly 
way. 

That American Puritan churches during this period had 
decided that a Christian church could be properly formed 
without use of an explicit covenant is seen from the following : 
"Wee frequently acknowledge that this Covenant ufhich con- 
stituted a Church, is either implicite or explicite, and that 
Congregations in England are truly Churches having an im- 
plicite covenant/' ("a defence of the Answer made unto 
the Nine Questions or Positions sent from New-England/' etc. 
1645. Preface, p. 13). 

Professor Walker, in speaking of the implicitness allow- 
able in the formation of early American Congregational 
churches says: "the 'Cambridge Platform' asserted that a 
verbal covenant was not the only form of the basal agreement, 
for 'a company of faithful persons' express such a union 'by 
their constant practise in coming together for the publick wor- 
ship of God, & by their religious subjection unto the ordi- 
nances of God.' " ("Hist, of the Congreg. Churches." Pp. 
217, 218.) 

The passage from which Professor Walker here quotes 
as given in "Creeds and Platforms," pp. 207, 208,, reads in 
full as follows : 

"4. This Voluntary Agreement, Consent or Covenant 
(for all these are here taken for the same) : Although the more 
express and plain it is, the more fully it puts us in mind of 
our mutuall duty, & stirreth us up to it, & leaveth lesse room 
for the questioning of the Truth of the Church-estate of a 
Company of professors, & the Truth of membership of partic- 
ular persons: [6] yet wee conceive, the substance of it is kept, 
where there is a real Agreement & consent, of a company of 
faithful persons to meet constantly together in one Congrega- 
tion, for the publick worship of God, & their mutuall edifica- 



62 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

tion : which real agreement & consent they doe express by their 
constant practise in comming together for their publick wor- 
ship of God, & by their religious subjection unto the ordi- 
nances of God there: the rather, if wee doe consider how 
Scripture covenants have been entered into, not only expressly 
by word of mouth, but by sacrifice ; by hand writing, & seal : & 
also sometimes by silent consent, without any writing, or ex- 
pression of words at all. ' ' 

Robert Baillie in his "Dissvisive from the Errours of the 
Time," (London, 1645) says: 

"It [the church covenant] is no more with us then this, 
an assent and resolution professed by them that are to be ad- 
mitted by us, with promise to walk in all these wayes per- 
taining to this Fellowship, so farre as they shall be revealed 
to them in the Gospel ; thus briefly, indefinitely and implicitly, 
in such like words and no more or otherwise, do we apply our 
answers to mens consciences. Church-covenant, p. 36. We 
deny not, but the Covenant in many of the English Congre- 
gations is more implicite, and not so plaine as were to bee 
desired ; yet there wants not that reall and substantiall coming 
together or agreeing in Covenant." 

William Rathband also has preserved for us an early 
definition of the church covenant that gives the following 
somewhat more complete statement of its proper content: 

"And thus they [the Independents, or Congregational- 
ists] define it. Its a solemne and publicke Promise before 
the Lord and his people, whereby a companie of Christians 
called (by the power and mercie of God) to the fellowship of 
Christ, and (by his providence) to dwell together, and (by his 
Grace) to love and cleave together in the unitie of faith and 
brotherly love, and desirous to partake (according to the will 
of God) in all the holy Ordinances of God together in one 
Congregation, doe bind themselves to the Lord to walke in 
such wayes of holy worship to him, and of edification one 
towards another, as God himselfe hath required in his word of 



EARLY AMERICAN COVENANTS 63 

every Church of Christ and the members thereof. ' ' — ' ' A Brief 
Narration of Some Church Courses," etc. London, 1644, p. 
15, 16. 

The suitable content of an explicit church covenant per- 
haps is even more fully given in Thomas Lechford's "Plain 
Dealing or, News from New England." London, 1642. He 
says: 

They [the American Congregationalists] solemnly enter 
into a Covenant with God, and one an other (which is called 
their Church Covenant, and held by them to constitute a 
Church) to this effect : viz. 

To forsake the Devill, and all his workes, and the vanities of 
the, sinfull world, and all their former lusts, and corruptions, they 
have lived and walked in, and to cleave unto, and obey the Lord 
Jesus Christ, as their onely King and Lawgiver, their onely Priest 
and Prophet, and to walke together with that Church, in the unity 
of the faith, and brotherly love, and to submit themselves one unto 
an other, in all the ordinances of Christ, to mutuall edification, and 
comfort, to watch over, and support one another. 

As the Covenant Idea in England had not been permitted 
to go unchallenged, so in America it had to defend its right 
to exist. The English Puritans were quite concerned over the 
importance attached to the covenant in churches on this side 
of the water. John Cotton's "Questions and Answers upon 
Church Government" had as a part of its mission the answer- 
ing of objections to church covenants, and Richard Mather, 
the unnamed author of "An Apologie of the Churches in New 
England for Church Covenant, ' ' met the issue directly. 

In 1643, there was published in London a work dated six 
years earlier, relating to this subject. It was entitled, "A 
Letter of Many Ministers in Old England, Requesting the 
Judgement of their Reverend Brethren in New England con- 
cerning Nine Positions Written Anno Dom. 1637, ' ' published 
at London, July 30, 1643. The following quotations from this 
will give us a clear idea of the nature of the English Puritans' 
objections to the church covenant: 



64 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

That Church Covenant which is necessary was not in use in the 
Apostles times, but the Covenant they entred into bound no man 
to this condition for ought we reade. They did not prescribe it, no 
church ever yet covenanted it as necessary to the preservation of 
the body. 

And here! we intreat leave to put you in minde of that which 
you have considered already, schil. That the Church and every 
member thereof hath entred into Covenant, either expresly or im- 
plicitely to take God for their God, and to keepe the words of the 
Covenant and doe them, to seeke the Lord with all their hearts, and 
to walke before him in truth and uprightnesse : but we never finde 
that they were called to give account of the worke of grace wrought 
in their soules, or that the. whole Congregation were appointed to 
be Judge thereof. 

The second thing you affirm is, that not only the covenant of 
grace which is common to all beleevers ; but Church-Covenant also 
which is peculiar to confederates is necessarie to the participation 
of the Seales. 

The chief objection to the covenant, of course, was that 
it did not appear in the New Testament as an essential condi- 
tion of church membership. To this Richard Mather's apol- 
ogie replied: 

By entring into Covenant with God, a people come to be the 
Lords people, that is to say, his Church. 

2. If it was of all the people together, the reason was because 
that Church was a nationall Church : now if a nationall Church be- 
comes a Church by entring into solemne Covenant with God then a 
Congregationall Church becomes a Church by the same means. 

In speaking of the Covenant of the Jewish people a pas- 
sage is quoted to the effect that 

this Covenant was of the whole Church with God and therefore not 
like our Church-Covenants, which are between the Church and the 
members, concerning watchfulnesse over one another, and the like. 

But this place of Deut. 29 is not sufficient to prove a Church- 
Covenant in these days: because it is in the Scriptures of the old 
Testament, for whatsoever must be used in the dayes of the old 
Testament, must not be proved from the Scriptures of the New 
Testament, or else it is to be layd aside. 

But suppose there were not pregnant places for it in the New 
Testament, yet it is not enough to prove the same unlawfull: for 
whatsoever Ordinance of the old Testament, is not repealed in the 
New Testament, as peculiar to the Jewish Paedagogie, but was of 
morall and perpetuall equitie, the same bindes us in these dayes, 
and is to be accounted the revealed will of God in all ages. 



EARLY AMERICAN COVENANTS 65 

In 1648 appeared Thomas Hooker's work, entitled "A 
Survey of the Summe of Church-Discipline. Wherein, The 
Way of the Churches of New England is warranted out of the 
Word." This contains the following valuable statements in 
regard to the church covenant : 

That then which gives the formality of these, Churches we are 
now to inquire: and the conclusion we maintain is this, Mutual 
covenanting and confoederating of the Saints in the fellowship of 
the faith according to the order of the Gospel is that which gives 
constitution and being to a visible church. 

2. How the Covenant may be expressed. This Covenant is 
dispensed or acted after a double manner. 

Either Explicitely or Implicitely. 

An Explicite Covenant is, when there is an open expression and 
profession of this ingagement in the face of the Assembly, which 
persons by mutuall consent undertake in the waies of Christ. An 
Implicite Covenant is, when in their practice they do that, whereby 
they make themselves ingaged to walk in such a society, according 
to such rules of government, which are exercised amongst- them, 
and so submit themselves thereunto: but doe not make any verball 
profession thereof. 

Quest. If it be here inquired : How far the covenant is of neces- 
sity required? 

Ans. According to foregoing expressions, the answer may be 
cast into these conclusions following. 

1. An Implicite Covenant preserves the true nature of the true 
Church, because it carries the formalis ratio of a confoederation in 
it, by which a Church is constituted. For Implicite and Explicite 
are but adjuncts, and these separable from the essence. And there- 
fore the essence and being of the covenant may consist with either. 

2. In some cases an Implicite covenant may be fully sufficient. 
As, suppose a whole congregation should consist of such, who were 
children to the parents now deceased, who were confoederate : 
Their children were true, members according to the rules of the 
Gospel, by the profession of their fathers covenant, though they 
should not make any personall and vocall expression of their in- 
gagement, as the fathers did. 

3. Its most according to the compleatnesse of the rule, and for 
the better being of the Church, that there be an explicite Covenant. 
For 

1. Thereby the judgement of the members comes to be in- 
formed and convinced of their duty more fully. 

2. They are thereby kept from cavilling and starting aside 
from the tenure and terms of the covenant, which they have 
professed and acknowledged, before the Lord and so many 
witnesses. 

3. Thereby their hearts stand under a stronger tye, and are 
more quickened and provoked to doe that, which they have 
before God and the congregation, ingaged themselves to doe. 



66 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

The method of using the church covenant among the early 
American Congregationalists is indicated in their denial: 
"That we make a vocall Church Oath or Covenant, the es- 
sentiall forme of a Church, when as wee frequently acknow- 
ledge that this Covenant which constituteth a Church, is either 
implicit e or explicit e;" ("A Defence of the Answer made 
unto the Nine Questions or Positions," etc., 1645, Preface, p. 
13.) and in the statement of the English Puritans that "there 
would not be such long narrations, of every one severally as 
now are used, when men do enter into Church-Covenant, when 
each one makes a good long speech, in the profession of his 
Faith and Repentance." — "An Apologie of the Churches in 
New-England for Church- Covenant, " etc., London, 1643, p. 29. 

A clear description of the manner in which early Con- 
gregational covenants were used in New England is given in 
a book entitled "A Brief Narration of the Practices of the 
Churches in New-England, in their solemne Worship of God. 
London; 1647." It reads as follows: 

After this [i. e., individual "confession of faith" and "declaration 
of . . . effectual calling"], they enter into a sacred and solemne 
Covenant, engagement, profession (call it what you please) whereby 
they protest and promise (by the help of Christ) to walk together 
as becomes a Church of God, in all duties of holinesse before the 
Lord, and in all brotherly love and faithfulnesse to each other, ac- 
cording unto God, withall producing their Covenant, agreed on 
before amonst themselves, then read it before the Assembly, and 
then either subscribe their hands to it, or testifie by word of mouth 
their agreement thereto. 



VIII. THE HALF-WAY COVENANT 

An interesting, and in some respects unfortunate, devel- 
opment of the church covenant Idea, was the Half -Way Cove- 
nant, which became popular throughout New England, begin- 
ning about the middle of the seventeenth century. The second 
generation of New England inhabitants had lost much of the 
piety and fervor which characterized the first founders. There 
were, of course, many faithful men and women, and there 
were some who were outwardly immoral and irreligious, but 
between these two was a third class, composed of men and 
women who had been baptized and reared in the Christian 
faith and who were generally people of blameless lives, but 
who could not claim the religious experiences by which their 
fathers believed themselves to have passed from death unto 
life. The first question which perplexed the leaders of the 
churches was whether these people should be admitted to the 
Lord's Supper; and the second was whether their children 
were fit subjects for baptism? There was much discussion of 
these questions, but it came to be held that these men and 
women were members of the church by reason of their baptism, 
and capable of transmitting membership by baptism to their 
children, but that they themselves were not in full communion. 
This result was reached, first by the Ministerial Convention of 
1657, and afterward by the Synod of 1662. It came about 
gradually and not without opposition and prolonged discus- 
sion. That it seemed to meet a need of the time and that in 
some cases it produced gratifying results we are not left to 
doubt. The history of the movement can but impress the 
thoughtful reader with the genuine Christian earnestness of 
the men who devised this unhappy compromise, while it shows 

67 



68 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

the inevitable evil attending a half-way acceptance of the Gos- 
pel. Of the conditions which gave rise to the Half -Way Cove- 
nant, Dr. Bacon wrote : 

"A conflict seemed to be growing more serious with the 
lapse of every year, between two ideals, both dear to the Puri- 
tan heart : — the purity of the church, as consisting of ' ' visible 
saints and their children," and the parish system by which 
the whole population of the several towns should be held 
under the tutelage of the churches. The growing danger was 
seriously felt by both parties. The churches and pastors saw 
the increasing number of those who failed to pass the accepted 
criteria of membership, and were in danger of drifting afar 
from any relation to the church ; and on the other hand those 
who had been baptized into the church, who held and cher- 
ished the truth that had been taught them, and whose lives 
were without reproach, but who were unable to testify to the 
conscious experience of a spiritual change from death to life, 
found not only themselves debarred from the communion, but 
their children excluded from baptism as aliens and ' ' strangers 
from the covenants of the promise. ' ' The situation was grow- 
ing each year more tense, and there were tendencies in two 
opposite directions towards a solution of it. One was towards 
the severely logical individualism of the Baptists, which had 
no place for infant baptism or infant church-membership. 
The other was towards ' ' the parish way, ' ' or the Presbyterian 
way, according to which the baptized children of the parish, 
arriving at years of discretion and being without reproach, 
were to be welcomed to the Lord's table. That the accepted 
criterion of fitness for church-membership was fallacious, that 
strictly applied, it would have excluded from communion the 
foremost theologian and saint of the contemporary Puritan 
party, Richard Baxter was not going to be made entirely clear 
to their successors until six generations afterwards (1847) by 
Horace Bushnell in his treatise of ' Christian Nurture. ' 



THE HALF-WAY COVENANT 69 

• ' The divergence of opinion and of practice was so great 
and so manifestly increasing as to call for action on the part 
of the colonial legislatures — always prone to an exorbitant 
sense of their responsibility in spiritual matters. In 1657 the 
Massachusetts General Court, moved thereto by Connecticut, 
invited a conference of leading pastors who, gathering at Bos- 
ton to the number of seventeen, gave counsel decidedly in 
favor of a more relaxed rule than that of the Founders. But 
this was far from appeasing the controversy. The sincere and 
painful anxiety of such venerated men as Davenport and 
Charles Chauncy prevailed with many others against any 
abatement of the conditions of membership in the church. 
A true synod, including not ministers only but "messengers 
of the churches, " was summoned to meet at Boston in 1662, 
and the number in attendance — more than seventy — was proof 
of the gravity of the question at issue. After protracted and 
earnest discussion, by a great majority but in face of an earn- 
est protest from some of the best men, the main question be- 
fore the synod was thus resolved : 

"Church-members who were admitted in minority, understand- 
ing the doctrine of faith and publicly professing their assent there- 
to; not scandalous in life, and solemnly owning the covenant before 
the church, wherein they give up themselves and their children to 
the Lord and subject themselves to the government of Christ in the 
church, — their children are to be baptized." 

"It was an illogical compromise between irreconcilable 
principles. It came, indeed, into general use in New England, 
but never with universal consent. Instead of ending contro- 
versy, it intensified it, giving rise to a copious polemical litera- 
ture. In conspicuous instances, as in Hartford and in Boston, 
it rent churches asunder. From New Haven the great and 
good Davenport, foreseeing the ruin about to befall his cher- 
ished ideals through the merger of that little republic with 
Connecticut, left behind him the fair plain that was dearer 
to his heart than native land, exclaiming "in New Haven 



70 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

colony Christ's interest is miserably lost," and went to assume, 
in his old age, the pastoral office in the First Church in Bos- 
ton, from which many members had withdrawn to practise the 
less rigid system in the Third Boston Church — the 'Old 
South.' The 'Half -Way Covenant' continued in general 
use for nearly a century, until it melted away in the fervent 
heat of 'the Great Awakening,' or withered under the rigors 
of the Edwardean theology. — Bacon pp. 76-80. 

Not every Congregational church employed the Half -Way 
Covenant. Individual pastors prepared them and used them, 
sometimes with and sometimes without the formal authority 
of the local church. One of the best examples quoted by Dr. 
Dexter in his Congregationalism as seen in its Literature " 
(page 476) as having been used probably by the old North 
Church in Boston, the church of the Mathers, is as follows: 

You now from your heart professing a serious belief to the 
Christian religion, as it has been generally declared and embraced 
by the faithful in this place, do here give up yourself to God in 
Christ; promising with his help to endeavor, to walk according to 
the rules of that holy religion, all your days; choosing of God as 
your best good, and your last end, and Christ as the Prophet, and 
Priest, and the king of your soul forever. You do) therefore sub- 
mit unto the laws of his kingdom, as they are administered in this 
church of his; and you will also carefully and sincerely labour 
after those more positive and increased evidences of regeneration, 
which may further encourage you to seek an admission unto the 
table of the Lord. 

Two other examples of Half- Way covenants are that of 
the Salem church, preserved in the Direction of 1665, and that 
used by the First Church in Hartford in 1696. The texts of 
these' covenants are as follows: 

The Salem Half-Way Covenant. 

I do heartily take and avouch this one God who is made known 
to us in the Scripture, by the Name of God the Father, and God the 
Son even Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Ghost to be my God, ac- 
cording to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace; wherein he hath 
promised to be a God to the Faithfull and their seed after them in 
their Generations, and taketh them to be his People, and therefore 



THE HALF-WAY COVENANT 71 

unfeignedly repenting of all my sins, I do give up myself wholly 
unto this God to believe in love, serve & Obey him sincerely and 
faithfully according to his written word, against all the temptations 
of the Devil, the World, and my own flesh and this unto the, death. 
I do also consent to be a Member of this particular Church, 
promising to continue steadfastly in fellowship with it, in the 
publick Worship of God, to submit to the Order, Discipline and 
Government of Christ in it, and to the Ministerial teaching, guidance 
and oversight of the Elders of it, and to the brotherly watch of 
Fellow Members: and all this according to God's Word, and by the 
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ enabling me thereunto. Amen. 

The Hartford Half-Way Covenant of 1696. 

We do solemnly in y e presence of God and this Congregation 
avouch God in Jesus Christ to be our God one God in three persons 
y e Father y e Son & y e Holy Ghost & yt we are by nature childrn of 
wrath & yt our hope of Mercy with God is only thro' ye righteous- 
nesse of Jesus Christ apprehnded by faith & we do freely give up 
ourselves to ye Lord to walke in communion with him in ye ordi- 
nances appointed in his holy word & to yield obedience to all his 
commands & submit to his governmt & whereas to y e great dishonr 
of God, Scandall of Religion & hazard of y e damnation of Souls, y e 
Sins of drunkenness & fornication are Prevailing amongst us we do 
Solemnly engage before God this day thro his grace faithfully and 
conscientiously to strive against those Evills and y e temptations 
that May lead thereto. — For text see "Church records, G. L. Walker, 
Hist. First Ch. in Hartford, Hartford, 1884, p. 248." Also given in 
Prof. Williston Walker's "Creeds and platforms," p. 121, note 1. 

Concerning these last two Half-Way covenants Professor 
Walker says: "Like this Salem Direction the Hartford cove- 
nant was not formally adopted by the church, though pre- 
pared by its pastor and used by its services. For a century, at 
Hartford, each pastor wrote his own form. ' ' 

A most interesting description of the manner in which 
Half-Way covenants were employed is given in a letter of 
Rev. Samuel Dan worth, pastor of a church in Taunton, Massa- 
chusetts, of the date 1705. The letter reads in part: 

It was a most comfortable Day the first of March, when we 
renew'd the Reformation Covenant. . . we added an Engagement 
to reform Idleness, unnecessary frequenting Houses of public Enter- 
tainment, irreverent Behaviour in Public Worship, Neglect of Fam- 
ily-Prayer, Promise-breaking, and walking with Slanderers and 
Reproachers of others; and that we should all in our Families be 
subject to good Orders and Government. It was read to the Breth- 



72 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

ren and Sisters in the Forenoon; they standing up as an outward 
Sign of their inward Consent, to the rest of the Inhabitants. In the 
Afternoon they standing up also when it was read; and then every 
one that stood up, brought his Name ready writ in a Paper, and 
put into the Box, that it might be put on Church Record. . . "We 
gave Liberty to all Men and Women Kind, from sixteen Years old 
and upwards to act with us; and had three hundred Names given 
in to list under Christ, against the Sins of the Times. . . "We have 
a hundred more that will yet bind themselves in the Covenant, that 
were then detained from Meeting. Let GOD have the Glory. 

Yesterday fourteen were propounded to the Church; some for 
full Communion; others for Baptism, being adult Persons. 

The full text of the decisions of 1657 and 1662 is given in 
Prof. Walker's "Creeds and Platforms," pages 228-339. We 
need not quote them here. But we must record the failure of 
the Half- Way Covenant as a permanent instrument of or- 
ganized Congregational church life. In general the Half -Way 
Covenants embodied virtually everything that ought to have 
been required for church membership. The vice of the system 
was in the countenance it gave to a half-way relationship be- 
tween Christ and the world. Men and women who ought to 
have come into church membership, and whom the churches 
ought somehow to have reached, remained in a sort of left- 
handed relationship as members, not yet members, and were 
content. The evil did not tend to its own readjustment. The 
great awakening, which began with the preaching of Whitfield 
and Jonathan Edwards, had as one of its chief results the 
abrogation of the Half -Way Covenant. This is not the place 
to discuss at length its merits and defects, but only to record 
in its relation to the general history of the church covenant 
in our Congregational churches the character and conclusion 
of this unsuccessful experiment. 

It has often been assumed that Jonathan Edwards was 
opposed to and by his opposition destroyed the Half- Way 
Covenant. That system was indeed destroyed by the great 
awakening which grew out of the preaching of Jonathan 
Edwards; but Dr. Dexter shows plainly that Edwards him- 
self administered the Half -Way Covenant, and probably would 



THE HALF-WAY COVENANT 73 

have continued to employ it without any strong feeling of 
disapproval, had that been the only difficulty encountered by 
him in the church life of his times. Dr. Dexter refers to 
Edwards' covenant administered to all members of his con- 
gregation above fourteen years of age. It fills four closely 
printed octavo pages and contains 1568 words (Dexter, Con- 
gregationalism, p. 487). The only defect which a modern 
Congregationalist can possibly discover in this covenant is 
that it resulted in taking the covenanter only half-way. 



IX. THE VALUE OF THE COVENANT 

This volume undertakes to assemble all the general con- 
fessions of faith of the Congregational Churches that have any 
present claim to authority, together with such account of past 
confessions as shall set the present forth in true historic per- 
spective; and also to gather representative covenants adopted 
by or employed in representative churches of our order from 
the beginning of modern Congregational history. But this is 
not its whole purpose. It is the author 's hope that he may be 
able to set forth somewhat more clearly than is sometimes 
understood the historic and proper relation of creed and cove- 
nant within the local church and the denomination. We shall 
have present occasion to discuss and record creeds, and need 
not at this point make particular mention of them; but this 
book undertakes to show that Congregational churches are not 
founded upon creeds, however useful creeds may be to them, 
and would be entirely complete without creeds, but that the 
basis of church organization among us is the covenant. To 
this end we may well go back to the fathers, and quote from a 
number of them, to make this thesis clear. 

The covenant, was held by all the early Congregational 
Writers to be that which constitutes a church, and a person a 
member of a Christian church. They held that it ought to be 
explicit, but might be implied. The advocates both of a na- 
tional and a catholic visible church accused the Congregation- 
alists of unwarrantable strictness on this point. Thomas 
Goodwin, in his Letters to John Goodwin, says : ' ' The church 
covenant is no more with us than this, — an agreement and 
resolution, professed with promise to walk in all those ways 
pertaining to this fellowship, so far as they shall be revealed 

74 



THE VALUE OF THE COVENANT 75 

to them in the gospel. Thus briefly and indefinitely and im- 
plicitly, and in such like words and no other, do we apply our- 
selves to men 's consciences, not obtruding upon them the men- 
tion of any one particular before or in admission, . . . leaving 
their spirits free to the entertainment of the light that shines 
or shall shine on them and us out of the word." (p. 44). 
Daniel Buck, a member of the church organized in London in 
1592, declared, on his arraignment before three magistrates, 
that when he came into the congregation "he made this pro- 
testation, that he would walk with the rest of the congregation, 
so long as they would walk in the way of the Lord, and so far 
as might be warranted by the word of God. ' ' (Punchard's His- 
tory, 277-8.) Burton, in his Rejoinder to Prynne's Answer 
concerning the Twelve Considerable Questions, maintains that 
it is enough that there be a covenant either expressed or im- 
plied. John Cotton shows that a covenant may be' ' by silent 
consent, Gen. xvii. 2 ; by express words, Ex. xix. 8 ; or by writ- 
ing and sealing, Neh. ix. 38." Cotton Mather says, that, in 
an Apology of Justin Martyr, we find Christians, who were 
admitted into church fellowship, agreeing in a resolution to 
conform in all things to the word of God ; which seems to be 
as truly a church covenant as any in the churches of New 
England. In the organization of the Salem Church, Mr. Hig- 
ginson drew up a covenant and confession of faith ; and those 
who were afterward admitted were required "to enter into a 
like covenant-engagement as to the substance, but the manner 
was to be so ordered by the elders as to be most conducive to 
the end, respect being always Jiad by them to the liberty and 
ability of the person." — (Neal's Puritans, i. 300.) Congre- 
gationalism as contained in the Scriptures, &c. quotes from 
Hooker's Survey, part. i. 46: "This covenant may be either 
explicit or implicit ; explicit where there is a formal covenant, 
implicit where they practise without a verbal written formal 
covenant." This covenant, he maintains, is for life as essen- 
tially as is the marriage-covenant. Prince quotes Gov. Brad- 



76 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

ford : ' ' Upon which these people shake off their antichristian 
bondage, and, as the Lord's free people, join themselves by 
covenant in a church state, to walk in all his ways, made 
known or to be made knoivn to tTiem, according to their best 
endeavors, whatever it cost them." Thus it seems that cove- 
nants were originally the basis of Congregational church 
organizations, and that with regard to the substance, and not 
the words of them. Many of the old writers, particularly 
Goodwin, show that a covenant, expressed or implied, is abso- 
lutely necessary to the establishment of any society whatever. 
It was the united opinion of the early Congregationalists, 
that any number of persons, united together by a covenant 
either expressed or implied, for the worship of God, constitute 
a church. John Eobinson says : * ' And for the gathering of a 
church I do tell you, that in what place soever, whether by 
preaching the gospel by a true minister, by a false minister, 
by no minister, or by reading and conference, or by any other 
means of publishing it, two or three faithful people do arise, 
separating themselves from the world into the fellowship of 
the gospel, they are a church truly gathered, though never so 
weak." (Works, ii, 232.) In his Apology he defines a church 
to be a company of faithful, holy people, with their seed, called 
by the word of God into a public covenant with Christ, and 
among themselves, for mutual fellowship, in the use of all the 
means of God's glory and their salvation. (Works, iii, 427.) 
The Saint's Apology says, this consent or agreement ought to 
be explicit, for the well-being, but not necessarily for the 
being, of a true church ; for it may be implied by frequent acts 
of communion, &c. (Hanbury, ii, 73). Jacob's Church Con- 
fession says: "They (the English congregations) are a true 
political church, as they are a company of visible Christians, 
united, by their own consent, to serve God, . . . therefore we 
commune with them upon occasion." (Hanbury, i. 296.) Eur- 
ing says : ' ' Search the Scriptures, and you shall find that every 
true visible church of Christ must consist of a company of peo- 



THE VALUE OF THE COVENANT 77 

pie separated from the fro ward generation of the world by the 
gospel, and joined or built together into a holy communion 
and fellowship among themselves." — Answer to Ten Counter 
Demands, Hanbury, ii. 367. 

In Burton's Modest Answer to Prynne's Full Reply in 
1645, it is shown that a mere implicit covenant is sufficient to 
the being, though not to the well-being, of a church (p. 9). 
Thomas Goodwin argues, that a church is ' ' a holy nation, . . . 
a household of faith, ... a holy temple, ' ' and thus is an or- 
ganized body ; and that it is an instituted body, assembling in 
one place, built by a special covenant. In his Catechism he 
shows that the ancient converts joined themselves to the 
church, and that a covenant is implied in their authority to 
judge and discipline their members, as they have no power 
to "judge them that are without," The Confession of the 
Low Country Exiles, art. xxxiii., says: "Christians are will- 
ingly to join together in Christian communion and orderly 
covenant; and, by free confession of the faith and obedience 
of Christ, to unite themselves into peculiar and visible con- 
gregations. " John Davenport says in his "Power of Con- 
gregational churches : " " The Church of Christ arises from the 
coadunition or knitting together of many saints into one by a 
holy covenant, whereby they, as lively stones, are built into 
a spiritual house (1 Pet. ii. 4, 5). Though church covenant 
be common to all churches in its general nature, yet there is 
a special combination which gives a peculiar being to one 
Congregational church and its members, distinct from all 
others." — See also, for corroboration of the same sentiments, 
Burrough's Irenicum, in Han. iii. 115; Bartlett's Model, in 
ib. 239 ; Savoy Declaration, in ib. 545, 546 ; Camb. Platform, 
chap. 2, sect, 6, and chap. 4 ; Wise's Vindication, chap. 2 ; Lord 
King's Enquiry, part i. 3, 7; Hooker's Survey, part i. 46; 
Hutchinson's Hist. Mass. 370, 371; Hall's Puritans, 294; S. 
Mather's Apology, 2; Increase Mather's Dis. Ecc. Councils, 
preface; Owen's Complete Works, xix. 213, 505, and xx. 370, 



78 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

371; Watt's Works, iii. 198, 250; Cotton Mather's Kat. Dis. 
10, 11; Eaton's and Taylor's Defence, 44; Letchford's Plain 
Dealing, epistle to the reader; Dwight, Serm. cxlix. ; Emmons, 
v. 444-446; and Principles of Church Order by the Congre- 
gational Union of England and Wales, art. i. in Hanbury, 
iii. 599. 

Mr. Champlin Burrage published in 1910 an interesting 
pamphlet entitled "New Facts Concerning John Robinson,'' 
including the results of his research in English university 
libraries and in the British Museum. It is interesting that in 
this as in his previously known writings the pastor of the 
Pilgrims stands firmly on the covenant as the basis of church 
organization. He says, — 

"Every true Church of God is joined with Him in holy 
covenant by voluntary profession to have Him the God there- 
of, and be his people. ' ' 



X. COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 

The preceding chapters have contained the text of a num- 
ber of the older covenants. It will be interesting and instruc- 
tive to assemble here some representative covenants from the 
early New England churches in such order as will show their 
evolution. Those before the Unitarian Controversy were 
nearly all destitute of doctrinal matter; those from 1810 to 
1883 generally included some creedal material, and often in- 
volved in addition a more or less formal assent to the longer 
creed of the local church. The two forms of admission pre- 
pared in 1883 and 1895 established a new line of demarcation, 
and the covenants of recent years may be studied in the exam- 
ples here gathered, which are fairly representative. 

THE PILGRIM COVENANT 

The Church of the Pilgrims, 1602. 
The Plymouth Church, gathered at Gainsboro in 1602, 
and organized under covenant at Schooby in 1606, declared 
that its members 

As ye Lord's free people, joyned themselves (by a covenant of 
the Lord) into a church estate, in ye fellowship of ye gospell, to 
walk in all his wayes, made known or to be made known unto them, 
according to their best endeavors, whatever it should cost them, the 
Lord assisting them. 

THE FIRST CHURCH OF SALEM, 1629 

We covenant with the Lord and with one another, and do bind 
ourselves in the presence of God to walk together in all his ways, 
according as He is pleased to reveal Himself unto us in his blessed 
Word of Truth. 

79 



80 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Covenants tended to lengthen, as in the case of the Salem 
church, to which came in 1636 Rev. Hugh Peter as minister. 
He had been accustomed to a much longer covenant in Rotter- 
dam, and he rewrote the Salem covenant, but it will be noted 
that its added length included matter relating not to doctrine 
but to life. 

THE RENEWED SALEM COVENANT OP 1636 

Gather my Saints together unto me that have madt a Covenant 
with me by sacrifyce. Ps. 50: 5. 

Wee whose names are here under written, members of the 
present Church of Christ in Salem, having found by sad experience 
how dangerous it is to sitt loose to the Covenant wee make, with 
our God: and how apt wee are to wander into by pathes, even to 
the looseing of our first aimes in entring into Church fellowship: 
Doe therefore solemnly in the presence of the Eternall God, both for 
our own comforts, and those which shall or maye be joyned unto 
us, renewe that Church Covenant we find this Church bound unto 
at theire first beginning, viz: That We Covenant with the Lord and 
one with an other; and doe bynd our selves in the presence of God, 
to walke together in all his waies, according as he is pleased to 
reveale himself unto us in his Blessed word of truth. And doe, more 
explicitely in the name and feare of God, profess and protest to 
walke as followeth through the power and grace of our Lord Jesus. 

1 first wee avowe the Lord to be our God, and our selves his 
people in the truth and simplicitie of our spirits. 

2 We give our selves to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the word of 
his grace, fore the teaching, ruleing and sanctifyeing of us in mat- 
ters of worship, and Conversation, resolveing to cleave to him alone 
for life and glorie; and oppose all contrarie wayes, canons and con- 
stitutions of men in his worship. 

3 Wee promise to walke with our brethren and sisters in this 
Congregation with all watchfullnes and tendernes, avoyding all 
jelousies, suspitions, backbyteings, censurings, provoakings, secrete 
risings of spirite against them; but in all offences to follow the 
rule of the Lord Jesus, and to beare and forbeare, give and forgive 
as he hath taught, us. 

4 In publick or in private, we will] willingly doe nothing to the 
ofence of the Church but will be willing to take advise for our 
selves and ours as occasion shalbe presented. 

5 Wee will not in the Congregation be forward eyther to shew 
oure owne gifts or parts in speaking or scrupling, or there discover 
the fayling of oure brethren or sisters butt atend an orderly cale 
there unto; knowing how much the Lord may be dishonoured, and 
his Gospell in the profession of it, sleighted, by our distempers, and 
weaknesses in publyck. 

6 Wee bynd our selves to studdy the advancement of the Gos- 
pell in all truth and peace, both in regard of those that are within, 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 81 

or without, noe way sleighting our sister Churches, but useing 
theire Counsell as need shalbe: nor laying a stumbling block before 
any, noe not the Indians, whose good we desire to promote, and 
soe to converse, as we may avoyd the verrye appearance of evill. 

7 We hearbye promise to carrye our selves in all lawfull obed- 
ience, to those that are over us, in Church or Commonweale, know- 
ing how well pleasing it will be to the Lord, that they should have 
incouragement in theire places, by our not greiveing theyre spirites 
through our Irregularities. 

8 Wee resolve to approve our selves to the Lord in our pertic- 
ular calings, shunning ydleness as the bane of any state, nor will 
wee deale hardly, or oppressingly with any, wherein we are the 
Lord's stewards: 

9 alsoe promyseing to our best abiltie to teach our children and 
servants, the knowledg of God and his will, that they may serve 
him also ; and all this, not by any strength of our owne, but by the 
Lord Christ, whose bloud we desire may sprinckle this our Covenant 
made in his name. — The Covenant Idea, pp. 89-91. 

The First Church of Boston had a covenant somewhat 
longer, chiefly in its recital of certain events connected with 
their migration across the ocean : 

THE CHARLESTOWN-BOSTON COVENANT, JULY 30, 1630 

In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, & in Obedience to His 
holy will & Divine Ordinaunce. 

Wee whose names are herevnder written, being by His most 
wise, & good Providence brought together into this part of America 
in the Bay of Massachusetts, & desirous to vnite our selves into 
one Congregation ,or Church, vnder the Lord Jesus Christ our Head, 
in such sort as becometh all those whom He hath Redeemed, & 
Sanctifyed to Himselfe, do hereby solemnly, and religiously (as in 
His most holy Proesence) Promisse, & bind ou r selves. to walke in 
all our wayes according to the Rule of the Gospell, & in all sincere 
Conformity to his holy Ordinaunces, & in mutuall love, & respect 
each to other, so neere as God shall give vs grace. — Text from A. B. 
Ellis's "History of the First Church in Boston," p. 3. 

The Watertown covenant was longer yet, but not by the 
inclusion of doctrinal matter. 

THE CENTER CHURCH OF HARTFORD, 1632 

This covenant is presumably the one adopted by this Church on 
its organization in Newtown (now Cambridge,) Mass., in 1632. 

Since it hath pleased God, in His infinite mercy, to manifest 
Himself willing to take unworthy sinners near unto Himself, even 



82 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

into covenant relation to and interest in Him, to become a God to 
them and avouch them to be his people, and accordingly to com- 
mand and encourage them to give up themselves and their* children 
also unto Him. 

We do therefore this day, in the presence of God, His holy 
angels, and this assembly, avouch the Lord Jehovah, the true, and 
living God, even God the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, to be 
our God and give up ourselves and ours also unto Him, to be his 
subjects and servants, promising through grace and strength in 
Christ (without whom we can do nothing,) to walk in professed 
subjection to Him as our only Lord and Lawgiver, yielding universal 
obedience to his blessed will, according to what discoveries He 
hath made or hereafter shall make, of the same to us; in special, 
that we will seek Him in all His holy ordinances according to the 
rules of the Gospel, submitting to His government in this particular 
Church, and walking together therein, with all brotherly love and 
mutual watchfulness, to the building up of one another in faith and 
love unto His praise: all which we promise to perform, the Lord 
helping us through His grace, in Jesus Christ. 

THE SECOND CHURCH OP BOSTON, 1650 

We, whose names are here subscribed, being called of God to 
enter into church-fellowship together, knowing and considering our 
great unworthiness and unfitness for so near approaches to so holy 
a God, and bow apt we are to start aside from him and from the 
rules of his gospel and government over us, we therefore lament as 
in His sight, the inconstancy of our own spirits with Him, and our 
former neglects of Him and pollutions of His house and holy things, 
by our personal corruptions and unholy walkings, and do beseech 
Him, for His name's sake, to prevent us with mercy and accept us 
under the wings of His own everlasting covenant; and in depend- 
ence upon His free grace therein, in His name and strength, we 
here freely this day, in the presence of the ever-living God, do 
avouch the Lord our God to be our God, and ourselves to be His 
people, and to yield ourselves to Him by an holy covenant of faith 
and love and covenant, to cleave to Him and to one, another in Him; 
to cleave to God in Christ as our sovereign Good, and to the Lord 
Jesus Christ as the only Mediator and surety of the covenant, as 
our only High Priest and atonement to satisfy for us and to save 
us, and as our only prophet to guide and to teach us, and as our 
only king and law-giver 1 to reign over us; as also to attend upon 
Him and the service of His holy will, by walking together as a con- 
gregation and church of Christ, in all the ways of His worship, and 
of mutual love, and of special watchfulness one over another, ac- 
cording to His will, which is to be revealed to us by His word; 
subjecting ourselves to the Lord in all his holy administrations in 
His church, beseeching Him to own us for His people, and to de- 
light to dwell among us as His people, that His kingdom and grace 
may be advanced by us. 

Which sacred covenant that we may observe and all the branch- 
es of it inviolable forever, we desire to deny ourselves and to defend 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 88 

alone upon the power of his Spirit, and upon the merits and mercies 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, for assistance and for acceptance, for 
healing and forgiving mercy for His own sake. 

THE OLD SOUTH COVENANT, 1669 

The third Congregational Church to be organized in Bos- 
ton was the Old South. It was "gathered at Charlestown on 
the 12th day of third monthe, 1669." The basis of union as 
is elaborately set forth by its historian, Hamilton A. Hill, 
"was not s a formal express of doctrinal belief, but of a glowing 
obligation of covenant obligation." — History of Old South, 
i, 126, It is somewhat longer than the earlier covenants, but 
its added length is not made up of doctrinal material; it en- 
larges upon the solemnity of this ' ' everlasting covenant ' ' and 
especially upon its inclusion of their posterity and the relation 
of sisterly fellowship and communion with other churches. 
Exclusive of these interesting and valuable additions, the cov- 
enant itself, constituting the church and defining the relation 
existing between its members, one with another and with their 
Lord, is as follows : 

"We, whose names are underwritten, being called of God to join 
together into a Church in heart-sense of our unworthiness thereof, 
disability thereunto, and aptness to forsake the Lord, cast off His 
government and neglect our duty one to another; Do in the name 
of Jesus Christ our Lord, trusting only in His grace and help, sol- 
emnly bind ourselves together as in the presence of God, 

Constantly to walk together as a Church of Christ, according 
to all those holy rules of God's word, given to a church body rightly 
established, so far as we already know them, or they shall be here- 
after farther made known to us. 

In 1680, Mr. Willard, who at that time was pastor, en- 
larged upon the covenant, adding to it matter suggested by 
the Reforming Synod, but introducing no doctrinal material. 
The two forms of this covenant are given in full in Hill's 
History of the Old South, Vol. 1, pp. 127, 240-241. 

In 1769, Rev. Samuel Blair, following the frequent custom 
of a new pastor to prepare his own covenant, introduced into 



84 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

the Old South a form of admission of members, which included 
into it a brief statement of doctrine. Of this Mr. Hill says in 
his history, 

"This form seems to us very inferior in power and fer- 
vency of expression to the covenant, which had been in use 
in the church for 100 years. It embodies the nearest approach 
to a doctrinal statement, as a prerequisite to admission to 
membership which was ever adopted at the Old South. The 
statement is very guarded and qualified in its terms, but it 
was all that the brethren were willing to consent to, as a con- 
cession to Mr. Blair, and it continued in force just 8 months." 
—Vol. 2, page 96. 

So far as we are aware, this is the only important attempt 
that was made to introduce doctrinal terms into a Congrega- 
tional covenant until the time of the Unitarian controversy. 

DR. DEXTER' S COVENANT 

The covenant recommended by Dr. H. M. Dexter was 
based on that of the Old South Church, whose general scope 
he followed, and some of whose clauses he included : 

We, who are called of God to join ourselves into a Church state, 
in deep sense of our unworthiness thereof, disability thereto, and 
aptness to forsake the Lord, and neglect our duty to him and to 
each other, do hereby — in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, and 
trusting in his gracious help — solemnly covenant and agree, with 
Him and with each other, to walk together as a Church of Christ, 
according to all those holy rules of God's Word given to a Church 
rightly established, so far as we know them, or may gain further 
light upon them. And, particularly, we covenant and agree: — 

To consecrate ourselves, our offspring, our worldly goods, and 
all that we have, and are, unto the Triune God, as the supreme 
object of our love and our chosen portion, for this world, and for 
that which is to come; 

To give diligent heed to His word and ordinances; 

To maintain His worship in the family; 

To seek in all things His glory, and the good of men, and to 
endeavor to live a holy and peaceable life in all godliness and hon- 
esty; 

To contribute from our substance, and by our active labors and 
continual prayers, to the work of this Church; 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 85 

To submit to its Gospel discipline; 

To labor for its growth, and peace, and purity; 

To walk with each other in Christian fidelity and tenderness ; 

And, finally, to hold and promote, suitable fellowship with all 
sister churches of the common Head, especially with those among 
whom the Lord hath set us, that the Lord may be one, and his name 
one, in all his churches throughout all generations, to his eternal 
glory in Christ Jesus. 

And now the good Lord be merciful unto us, pardoning, accord- 
ing to the riches of his grace, as all our past sins, so especially our 
Church sins, in negligence and unfaithfulness of former vows, and 
accept, as a sweet savor in Christ Jesus, this our offering up of 
ourselves unto him in this work; filling this place with his glory, 
making us faithful to himself and to each other so long as this 
transitory life shall last, and, after that he has kept us from falling, 
presenting us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceed- 
ing joy. Amen! — Congregationalism, pp. 163, 4. 

Covenants in present use in our Congregational churches 
show no very striking divergences. A large number of church- 
es use the form of admission which accompanied the Creed of 
1883, and a still larger number the revised form of 1895 
which was printed in "The Council Manual." Among the 
churches employing this covenant in one of its two forms, or 
in some unimportant modification if it, are Shawmut Church, 
Boston, Calvinistic Church, Fitchburg, Mass. ; First Church, 
Newton Center, Mass. ; Central Church, Galesburg, Illinois ; 
First Church, Muskegon, Michigan; First Church, Ottumwa, 
Iowa; First Church, Marietta, Ohio; First Church, Long 
Beach, California. These are representative churches in a 
much larger group. 

Of the pastors who employ this covenant, and who have 
expressed their opinion in a recent symposium, none find any 
serious fault with this covenant, or express any great en- 
thusiasm concerning it. It is a servicable covenant, but it 
was hastily prepared and perfunctorily revised, and it has 
never elicited any very warm praise or strong criticism. The 
two forms are here given, and also a number of other forms 
of covenant in present use in representative churches in dif- 
ferent parts of the country. 



86 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

(the form op admission of 1883.) 
The following is the "Confession of Faith" which the 
Commission of 1883 prepared to accompany the Creed which 
they had prepared: 

CONFESSION OF FAITH 

What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward 
me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of 
the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence 
of all his people. 

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I 
confess also before my Father, which is in heaven. But whosoever 
shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father, 
which is in heaven. 

For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with 
the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

Dearly beloved, called of God to be his children through Jesus 
Chri3t our Lord, you are here that, in the presence of God and his 
people, you may enter into the fellowship and communion of his 
Church. You do truly repent of your sins; you heartily receive 
Jesus Christ as your crucified Saviour and risen Lord; you conse- 
crate yourselves unto God and your life to his service; you accept 
his Word as your law, and his Spirit as your comforter and guide; 
and trusting in his grace to confirm and strengthen you in all good- 
ness, you promise to do God's holy will, and to walk with this church 
in the truth and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Accepting, according to the measure of your understanding of 
it, the system of Christian truth held by the churches of our faith 
and order, and by this church into whose fellowship you now enter, 
you join with ancient saints, with the Church throughout the world, 
and with us, your fellow-believers, in humbly and heartily confess- 
ing your faith in the gospel, saying: — 

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and 
earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord; who was con- 
ceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under 
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried: the third day He 
rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the 
right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come 
to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the 
holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of 
sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen. 

[Then should baptism be administered to those who have not 
been baptized. Then should those rise who would unite with the 
church by letter. To them the minister should say:] 

Confessing the Lord whom we unitedly worship, you do now 
renew your self-consecration, and join with us cordially in this, our 
Christian faith and covenant. 

[The members of the church present should rise.] 

We welcome you into our fellowship. We promise to watch 
over you with Christian love. God grant that, loving and being 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 87 

loved, serving and being served, blessing and being blessed, we 
may be prepared, while we dwell together on earth, for the, per- 
fect communion of the saints in heaven. 

"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our 
Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of 
the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to 
do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, 
through Jesus Christ: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." 

[An alternative benediction, Jude 24, 25.] 

(the form of admission of 1895.) 
Following is the revised form of the "Confession of 
Faith" of 1883 which was prepared in 1895 and printed, by 
direction of the National Council, in ■ ' The Council Manual : ' ' 

FORM FOR THE RECEPTION OF MEMBERS 
From the Council Manual (approved by the National Council of 1895.) 

The persons to be received on confession of their faith coming, 
as their names are called, before the congregation, the minister 
may repeat the following or other Scripture passages: 

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward 
me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name, of the 
Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of 
all His people." 

"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I 
confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever 
shall deny me before, men, him will I also deny before my Father 
which is in heaven." 

"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and 
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

The minister shall then say: 
Dearly beloved, called of God to be His children, through Jesus 
Christ, we give hearty thanks to Him, who by His Spirit, has opened 
your eyes to see and your hearts to receive Jesus as your Saviour 
and Lord, and who has inclined to present yourselves at this time 
to make confession of Him. 

With the saints of old, with the Church throughout the world, 
and with us, your fellow-believers, you join humbly and heartily 
confessing your faith in the Gospel, saying: 

(The members of the Church, together with those to be re- 
ceived, here rise and repeat the Apostles' Creed.) 

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and 
earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was con- 
ceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under 
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day He 
rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven; and sitteth at 
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall 
come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost ; 
the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness 
of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. 
Amen. 



88 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

(The members of the Church will again be seated.) 

Thus confessing with us and with the Church universal your 
Christian faith, in the presence of God and of His people, you pub- 
lically enter into His covenant of grace. 

Having truly repented of your sins and heartily forsaken them, 
you devote yourselves to the love, obedience, and service of Jesus 
Christ; you take His Word as the law of your life and the Holy 
Spirit as your Comforter and Guide; and trusting in His grace to 
confirm and strengthen you, you promise to follow Him in all things, 
to walk with His disciples in love, and to live for His glory. Do you 
so promise? 

Response, I do. 

Those who have been previously baptized are, addressed as 
follows : 

Do you who are children of the covenant now accept for your- 
selves the seal of baptism into the name of the, Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Spirit, to which faith and love brought you in 
childhood? 

Response, I do. 

The God of all grace, who hath called you unto his eternal 
glory by Jesus Christ, confirm you unto the end that ye may be 
blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Those who have not been previously baptized are thus ad- 
dressed : 

Acknowledging the. divine authority of Christian baptism, you 
now receive it as a sign of the washing of regeneration, which you 
trust has been wrought in you by the Holy Spirit, and as a seal 
of God's covenanted grace. 

Baptism should here be, administered as follows: 

I baptize thee into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

The Minister shall then say: 

And now to you who are faithful to these solemn promises and 
engagements towards God, He is pleased to declare by His Word His 
promises and engagements towards you, assuring to you the free 
and full forgiveness of your sins; and pledging all sufficient aid, 
upon which you may joyfully rely, in the great work which you 
have undertaken. He promises that he will be your God, your 
Father, your Redeemer, your Sanctifier, Teacher, and Guide. He 
covenants with you, that in the day of trial and temptation he will 
cheer and strengthen you; that he will cause all things to work 
together for your good; that nothing shall separate you from his 
love; and that at death your ascended Lord will receive you to 
himself, that where He is there you may be also. 

Those to be received by letter or certificate from other churches 
now either come forward or rise as their names are called. The 
Minister shall greet these, saying : 

Kindred in Christ, who come acknowledging the vows you made 
when first you declared your faith in Christ, we bid you welcome. 
We greet you as fellow-laborers in His service, and fellow-travelers 
to His promised rest. 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 89 

Addressing all those entering into the membership of this 
Church the Minister shall say: 

Beloved in the Lord, baptized into the name of the Father and 
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, you have confessed the faith of 
Christ before witnesses and have, given yourself to God in His ever- 
lasting covenant of grace. And now accepting, according to the 
measure of your understanding of it, the system of Christian truth 
held by the churches of our faith and Order, and by this church into 
whosei fellowship you now enter, you cordially unite yourself with 
the church of Christ, adopting as your own the covenant by which 
it exists; you promise to pray and labor for its edification and fruit- 
fulness; to help in sustaining its worship, its activities, and its 
charities; and to live with us in Christian fellowship. Do you so 
promise. 

Response, I do. 

The members of the Church here rise, and the Minister shall 
say: 

We, then, the members of this Church, do affectionately welcome 
you into this household of faith. We pledge to you our sympathy, 
our help, and our prayers that you may evermore increase in the 
knowledge and love of God. We trust that by His grace we may 
all walk worthy of the calling wherewith we are called, with all 
lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another 
in love; giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond 
of peace. God grant that, loving and being loved, serving and being 
served, blessing and being blessed, we may be prepared while we 
dwell together on earth for the perfect fellowship of the saints 
above. 

Here the minister may give to each the hand of fellowship, with 
some appropriate passage of Scripture; after which may be pro- 
nounced the following benediction: 

"Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to 
present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceed- 
ing joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, 
dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." 

The two forms of admission prepared to accompany the 
Creed of 1883, while embodying excellent features, are not 
above criticism in several particulars. Both are virtually 
covenants, but neither one consistently develops the covenant 
idea. The earlier one, hastily prepared as an after-thought 
by the Commission whose chief duty had been the formulation 
of the Creed, was called a Confession of Faith. The other, 
prepared in 1895, was taken over by the Committee on the 
Manual and appears to have been an incident in the work of 
that Committee which had taken over the partially formulated 
result of another Committee appointed especially to prepare 



90 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

a Form of Admission, while therefore the Council Manual of 
1895 included the familiar form of admission, which certainly 
is a covenant, the second article of the Constitution which 
that Manual contains, includes a covenant, as follows : 

The covenant by which this Church exists as a distinct body, 
and which every member accepts, is as follows: 

Acknowledging Jesus Christ to be our Saviour and Lord, and 
accepting the Holy Scriptures as our rule of faith and practice, 
and recognizing the privilege and duty of uniting ourselves for 
Christian fellowship, the enjoyment of Christian ordinances, the 
public worship of God, and the advancement of his kingdom in the 
world, we do now, in the sight of God and invoking his blessing, 
solemnly covenant with and agree with each other to associate 
ourselves to be a Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as warranted 
by the Word of God. 

We agree to maintain the institutions of the gospel, to submit 
ourselves to the orderly administration of the affairs of the Church, 
and to walk together in brotherly love. 

And this we do depending upon the aid of our heavenly Father, 
who so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son for our 
salvation, and of Jesus Christ, who hath redeemed us with his 
blood, and of the Holy Spirit our Comforter and Guide. — Barton's 
Congregational Manual, p. 231.) 

This article states that every member of the church ac- 
cepts the covenant, but there is no place in the form of ad- 
mission of members where this covenant appears and the cove- 
nant to which members do assent is quite a different thing. 
This is certainly an infelicity. No church needs two cove- 
nants, one as a part of its Constitution, to which every mem- 
ber assents without knowing that he does so, and another as a 
its form of admission of members but which has no place in 
its Constitution. 

There should be another form of admission, not only 
better than either of these, but one whose covenant is an inte- 
gral part of the organic law of the church. 

CENTRAL CHURCH, BOSTON. 

Central church has no Creed and has recently omitted the 
Apostles' Creed which formerly was a part of its Service of Ad- 
mission. 

The Covenant 

Before these, the members of this church, who do now renew 
their assent to this covenant, encompassed by that great cloud of 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 91 

witnesses who have fought the good fight and kept the faith, and 
with God's help and comfort, you do now covenant and promise 
to give yourself to Him, to seek His way for your way, to make 
His will your own, to bear gladly and loyally all that is given you 
to bear. You do promise to take Jesus Christ as your Master, and to 
make it your honest effort to do each day as you think He would 
have you do. You do promise that you will study His words, and that 
you will earnestly strive so to walk in His Spirit that your life may 
not be controlled by the desires and passions of the flesh, but by 
the Holy Spirit of love and truth. 

You do also promise, that so long as you continue in association 
with this church you will be loyal to its fellowship; that you will 
help those of your fellow-members who are weak; that, according 
to your strength and opportunity, you will support its work and its 
services ; and finally, that you will strive with all your heart to save 
others from the power of evil in the world and in themselves, and 
to bring them to the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. 

Trusting in the promise of Christ that no one shall pluck you 
out of His hand, and in the power of His Holy Spirit to teach you 
and to help you, you thus promise. Do you? 

Reception of Members 

The Announcement 

For those joining by confession of faith. 
Dearly beloved: You have been baptized at the will of your 
parents into the life which is in Christ. You do now of your own 
will and choice come before this company of His followers to con- 
fess His name and to take upon your own lips the promise of fidelity 
to Him. 

For those joining by letter. 

Dearly beloved: You have been already received into the fel- 
lowship in the greater Church of Christ. May God so bless your 
association with this church that it may bring to you a new and 
fresh revelation of His love and truth, and that you, living and 
working among us, may enlarge the usefulness of this church and 
increase its power according to the measure of the gift which God 
hath given and shall give unto you. As a token of your reception 
into the full privilege of the membership of this church, I ask you 
to stand with the members of this church as they silently renew 
their pledge of fidelity to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. 

Members of the church rise. 

THE SECOND CHURCH IN NEWTON 

(West Newton, Massachusetts.) 

This church has no Creed. Following is its Service of Admission. 

Address of Welcome 

Dearly Beloved, we give hearty thanks to our Father in Heaven, 
who has led you to choose Jesus as your Leader and Master, and 
who has inclined you at this time to acknowledge Him, and to 



92 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

enter upon the privileges and responsibilities of membership in 
His church. 

Confession 

With us, and with the church throughout the world, you confess 
your faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, and declare your purpose to 
live hereafter as His loving and obedient servant; *"to walk in all 
of His ways now known, or hereafter to be made known, to you, 
according to your best endeavor, the Lord assisting you;" and to 
seek to build up the kingdom of God and His righteousness in your- 
self and in others. 

I do. 

(Here baptism will be administered, after which those uniting 
by letter will rise.) 

Covenant 

In accordance with your purpose to live a Christian life, you 
now heartily unite with this church, to share with us its work and 
worship; covenanting with God and with us to be loyal to it in all 
things, to attend (so far as possible) its appointed services, to 
guard its good name, to promote its usefulness and prosperity as 
God's instrument for the good of men, and to walk with us in love 
and faithfulness so long as your relations with us shall continue. 

I do. 

Right Hand of Fellowship 
(Here the Church will rise.) 

We then, members of this church of Christ, receive you into 
our communion, and welcome you with joy to our fellowship. We 
promise to unite with you in Christian work and worship, to treat 
you with Christian love, and to exercise towards you the sympathy 
and counsel, the charity and helpfulness which become brethren 
in the household of our Father. 

God grant that in mutual love, and abundant helpfulness to 
others, we may illustrate the doctrine of Christ our Saviour, and, so 
far as in us lies, cause the kingdom of God to come,, and His will 
to be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

In token of our confidence and sincerity, receive the right hand 
of fellowship. 

PIEDMONT CHURCH, WORCESTER 

Piedmont Church in January 31, 1916, adopted new articles of 
faith and Covenant. The pastor, Dr. Bradley, furnishes the fol- 
lowing statement: 

"The New Articles of Faith and the Covenant were adopted by 
the Church by a unanimous vote. The thought was in many minds, 



♦From the covenant of the church at Scrooby, 1602. 






COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 93 

and was expressed by several, that in adopting a new and briefer 
statement we are in no way saying that we do not believe the arti- 
cles adopted in 1912 to be true. We do believe them to be true, and 
regard them as the most admirable statements we have ever seen 
of the points of doctrine with which they deal. Our reasons for 
adopting the briefer form are chiefly that the shorter articles lend 
themselves to use in our services, and especially our conviction 
that we should lay emphasis upon purpose and not opinion in 
receiving people into our Churches. 

"Piedmont Church wishes to be, tolerant enough, hospitable 
enough, true enough to the broad Spirit of Christ, who invited men 
to join Him in His work without inquiring minutely into their theo- 
logical notions, to offer to men and women whose hearts respond 
to Christ and His ideal of service and helpfulness, though they may 
feel very unsure of any theological proposition, a hearty fellowship 
and a field of service. Our first question is not, 'Do you think 
straight?' but 'Do you want to help?' Surely any reasonable person 
who wishes to help forward the cause of Christ and the Church will 
now be unable to say, 'I do not join a Church because I do not 
believe its creed.' Most intellectual doubts and difficulties disap- 
pear when we busy ourselves with services of love and kindness." 

Covenant 

I believe in one Infinite and Eternal God, the Father of all man- 
kind, the giver of every good and perfect gift, and the source of 
every noble thought and purpose. 

I believe in Jesus Christ, who best reveals to us the nature and 
the will of our Heavenly Father. 

I believe that it is our Heavenly Father's will that all men, 
everywhere, should love and serve each other as brothers. 

I believe that the Holy Spirit is ever ready to help us in our 
strivings for Goodness and Truth, and in our efforts to advance the 
Kingdom of Heaven on earth. 

Creed 

I heartily enter this Christian fellowship and solemnly covenant 
with its members to try daily to follow Jesus Christ and do the will 
of our Heavenly Father, to attend upon the services of this Church, 
support its work ,uphold its faith and walk with its members in love. 

ELIOT CHURCH, NEWTON, MASS. 

Covenant 

We confess the one only true and living God to be, our God and 
Father; the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Redeemer; and the Holy 
Spirit to be our Sanctifier, Comforter, and Guide. We consecrate 
ourselves to the service of God in an everlasting Covenant, and 
promise through Divine assistance to walk according to His com- 
mandments. 



94 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

We acknowledge this to be a true Church of our Lord Jesus 
Christ; and so long as we continue members of it, we promise to 
attend its ordinances of worship, to promote its purity and peace, 
to avoid error ,to submit to the discipline which Christ has estab- 
lished in His Church, and to be kindly affectioned and faithful one 
to another. 

The Lord grant us grace to be true to this our Covenant, and to 
glorify Him with the holiness which becometh His house forever. 
Amen. 

PARK CHURCH, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 

Adopted in 1904 

Constitution of the Church 

Preamble 

As a Church of Jesus Christ, associated for the public worship 
of God and the service of mankind, we declare our fellowship with 
all those who love our Lord. We covenant together for mutual 
helpfulness in work and worship. We express our common faith, 
not as a result of complete knowledge or as a condition of fellow- 
ship, but to indicate our common apprehension of God's truth. 

Covenant 

As disciples of the Lord Jesus, relying upon his strength, we 
covenant with him and with each other to love God and to obey his 
law as far as he shall make it known to us; to forsake sin and to 
battle with the world, the flesh and the devil; to speak the truth in 
love, and to take thought for things honorable in the sight of all 
men; to endeavor to bring the Kingdom of God to the earth; and 
to glorify him in every word and deed. 

As associates in the fellowship of this Church, we pledge our- 
selves to join in its work and worship according to the, measure of 
our ability; to seek one another's welfare; to think and speak in 
charity; and to do good to each other and to all men as we have 
opportunity. 

Creed 

We confess our belief in one God, the Father Almighty, who has 
made and who maintains the heaven and the earth, and all that is 
therein. We believe that he is holy and loving, and that he desires 
men to know and love him. We believe that he has sent his Son, 
Jesus Christ, to bring light and life to the world, and that through 
the Holy Spirit he sends that light and life into the hearts of all 
who will receive him. We believe that men have been made in 
God's image to be God's sons, that they have wilfully and ignorantly 
turned away from their inheritance* and that peace between the 
holy God and sinful man can be made only by the cross of Jesus 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 95 

Christ. We believe that Jesus, having risen from the dead and as- 
cended into heaven, rules over the world and mediates between God 
and man; and that in his own time he shall come again to judge 
the world and to receive to himself those who have committed their 
lives to him. We, believe that Jesus while on earth founded his 
Church to be a witness to him through the maintenance of worship, 
the preaching and teaching of his truth, and the sacraments of 
Baptism and the Lord's Supper. We believe that the Church is en- 
trusted with his work, and that it, like him, must go about doing 
good and endeavoring to make the Kingdom of God real on earth. 
We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments con- 
tain the records of God's dealing with men and his will for men's 
conduct; and that .illuminated by the Holy Spirit, they furnish the 
true standard of Christian life and thought. 

NORTH CHURCH, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 

North Church has a brief confession of faith, liturgical in form, 
but does not use it in admission of members. 

Covenant 

In the presence of God and men you now avow the Lord Je- 
hovah, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to be your God. You take His 
word to be the law of your life, and, renouncing all sinful pleasures 
and all unholy calling, you consecrate your powers and your pos- 
sessions to His service forever. To speak that which is true; to do 
that which is right; to be honest in your dealings with men; to be 
faithful in your duties to God — this is the life which, by God's grace, 
you mean to live. 

With this Church you covenant to join in work and in worship ; 
seeking not only to be ministered unto, but also to minister; doing 
good to all men as you have opportunity, especially to them who are 
of this household of faith. You promise to submit to its rules and 
its discipline; to maintain a prayerful spirit, and to honor your 
Christian calling by a life of piety toward God, and charity toward 
men. 

Is this your promise? 

Joyfully, then, do we, the members of this Church, receive you 
to our communion. We remember the new commandment of our 
Lord, and, in our converse with you, we will strive to obey it. To 
help you , as we can, in bearing your burdens; to give you, as you 
need, Christian counsel and sympathy; to lead you, if we may, in 
the way of life eternal; to be patient with you, and faithful to you 
if you go astray; to be jealous of your good name; to hold your 
peace and welfare as our own; to fulfill to you in all ways, so far 
as in us lies, the law of Christ our Lord, — this is our purpose and 
our promise, for which we humbly ask grace divine, that we may 
truly keep. 



96 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

SECOND CHURCH, WATERBURY, CONN. 
Articles of Faith 

We believe in God, the Father and Ruler of us all. 

We believe in Jesus Christ, His Son, as the supreme revelation 
of God. 

We believe in the Holy Spirit of God, and that God by His Spirit 
comes into our hearts to restrain us from evil and to inspire us to 
goodness and truth. 

We believe in the Scriptures in that they hold before us the path 
of highest duty and the highest hopes for this world and for the 
world to come. 

We believe in the Church as a divinely appointed agency for 
fellowship and service. 

We believe in the ultimate triumph of righteousness, the resur- 
rection from the dead and the life everlasting. 

Covenant 

You do now with true humility and with grateful trust in God 
publicly consecrate yourself to His worship and service. And you 
do promise, as far as lies within your power, to submit to the gov- 
ernment of this church, to love and watch over its members, to at- 
tend its worship, uphold its discipline, and promote its purity, peace 
and growth. 

Do you so covenant with God and this church? 

Those who are to be received by letter! may now present them- 
selves. (The minister shall read their names.) 

Having previously consecrated yourself to the Kingdom of God, 
and to His worship and service, and desiring now to enter into 
special relation with this church, you do promise to seek its peace, 
purity and prosperity. Do you thus engage ? 

(The members of this church will rise.) 

We then, the members of this church, do most cordially receive 
you into our communion and fellowship. In the name of our com- 
mon Lord we welcome you to the blessings of His covenant, to the 
duties and privileges and joys of His Church. We promise to walk 
with you in Christian love and service, that the Kingdom of God may 
be established in the hearts of men. 

FIRST CHURCH, JACKSON, MICHIGAN 

Covenant 

Will you enter into covenant with the members of this Church 
in an endeavor to express in their individual and corporate life the 
spirit of Christ, pledging loyalty to Him, his teachings, and His way 
of life? Will you work with the members of this Church to extend 
His kingdom in the world? Will you support the spiritual, educa- 
tional, financial, benevolent and social interests of this Church; 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 97 

laboring and praying for its increase, its purity and peace, and seek 
to make it a power for good? 

Answer: I will. 

Here the members of the Church will rise, and the minister 
will say: 

We, then, the members of this Church, extend to you a Christian 
welcome and do heartily receive you into the fellowship of this 
Church. We desire, to share with you its inheritances and vision, its 
responsibilities and privileges, its sacrifices and rewards. We 
pledge to you a Christian sympathy and concern; we promise to 
walk with you in the way of loving service; to be, patient with you 
and faithful to you; to be jealous of your good name; to hold your 
peace and welfare as our own and thus fulfill a Christian fellowship. 

EUCLID AVENUE CHURCH, CLEVELAND 

The Euclid Avenue Church has the Kansas City Creed, and 
employs the following Covenant: 

"You do now in the presence of God and men, accepting Jesus 
Christ as Lord and Master, solemnly dedicate yourselves and all 
you are to the service of God. You do covemant that by the grace 
of God assisting you, you will love and serve Him all your lives; 
that you will glorify Him by following Jesus in promoting the tem- 
poral and spiritual good of men; that you will strive to obey the 
inward voice of the Spirit, and speak and do whatever is right and 
true and holy, so far as you perceive truth." 

Do you thus covenant? 

NEW ENGLAND CHURCH, CHICAGO 
Covenant 

You, now, in the presence of God, angels and men, do acknowl- 
edge the Lord Jehovah to be, your God. You confess the Father to 
be your Father; the Son to be your Savior; the Holy Ghost to be 
your Sanctifier. 

You take God's Word to be the guide of your life; and, renounc- 
ing the dominion of this world, you consecrate both soul and body 
unto the service of God, promising, by His help, to keep your conse- 
cration unto the end. 

[Those uniting by Letter will here rise.] 

You, who, in the fellowship of the saints, have come to us from 
other Churches of our Lord, do covenant with this Church to join in 
its ordinances and public worship; to submit to its rules and disci- 
pline; to strive for its purity and peace. 

You will walk with its members in love and faithfulness, as long 
as you shall continue among them. 

Thus you covenant. 

[The Church will here rise.] 

We, then, the members of this Church of Christ, do joyfully re- 
ceive you. We welcome you to our communion and fellowship. We 



98 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

promise to you our sympathies, our watchfulness, our prayers. We 
greet you as members with us of the spiritual body ot Christ. We 
unite with you in the acknowledgement of one Lord, one faith, one 
baptism. And may God enable us all to be true to each other, and 
to the brotherhood and charity of the saints, and to Himself for- 
ever. 

FIRST CHURCH, ROGERS PARK, CHICAGO 
The Covenant 

Dearly beloved, called of God to be His children through Jesus 
Christ our Lord, you are here that, in the presence of God and His 
people, you may enter into the fellowship and communion of His 
church. You do truly repent of your sins: you heartily receive 
Jesus Christ as your crucified Savior and Lord: you consecrate 
yourselves unto God, and your life to His service: you accept His 
word as your law, and His Spirit as your Comforter and Guide : and 
trusting in His grace to confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, 
you promise to do God's Holy Will, and to walk with this church 
in the truth and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

You do cordially join yourselves to this church, engaging to 
submit to its government and discipline: to promote its purity, 
peace and edification: to walk with its members in the spirit of 
Christian love, and to discharge all those duties whereby God may 
be glorified and the Kingdom of His dear Son promoted and estab- 
lished among men. 

Affirmation of Candidate 

We unite with you in church fellowship, believing that thus we 
shall the better honor God, strengthen God's children, encourage 
the God-like in all our fellow men, and build up a spiritual kingdom 
in our own hearts and in the world. 

We promise, as God gives us ability, to sustain by our presence, 
our prayers and our offerings, all the public services of the church, 
and to labor with you in extending Christian influence. 

Response of the Church 

We welcome you into our fellowship. We promise to watch 
over you with Christian love. God grant that ,loving and being 
loved, serving and being served, blessing and being blessed, we may 
be prepared, while we dwell together on earth, for the perfect com- 
munion of the saints in Heaven. 

May the Lord be gracious unto us, and bring us into His pres- 
ence. 

PLYMOUTH CHURCH, DES MOINES, IOWA 

Plymouth Church has the Kansas City Confession, to which 
assent is not required . 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 99 

Order for the Reception of Members 

Dearly Beloved, you are here in the presence of God and His 
people that you may enter into the communion and fellowship of 
His Church. We believe in God as our Father and in Jesus Christ 
as our teacher and Saviour. Together we are striving to learn the 
meaning of life and to walk as becometh the children of God. 

In coming into membership in the Church we are recognizing 
your right. We are confirming you in thei privileges and oppor- 
tunities of the Church. It is your Church and we are Christian 
friends. We want to help you to become strong and true in the 
Christian faith. As Christians you are to learn the meaning of 
right and wrong, your duty to God, the, helpfulness of prayer, the 
joy of unselfishness and the meaning of Christ's teaching. This 
should be your aim. 

Do you promise to be faithful to the Church and strive to learn 
the ways of Christ, that you may know what your duties to God 
and men are? 

Response of the Church 

We then ,the, members of this Church, receive you with joy into 
our fellowship and communion, and we promise to walk with you 
in Christian love and sympathy. God grant that loving and being 
loved, serving and being served, blessing and being blessed, we may 
know the fullest joys of Christian fellowship. 

FIRST CHURCH, DETROIT 

Dearly beloved, called of God to His children through Jesus 
Christ our Lord, you are here that in the presence of God and His 
people you may enter into the fellowship and communion of His 
Church. You do truly repent of your sins ; you heartily receive 
Jesus Christ as your Crucified Saviour and Risen Lord; you conse- 
crate yourself unto God and your lives to His service; you accept 
His word as your law, and His spirit as your comforter and guide; 
and, trusting in His grace to confirm and strengthen you in all 
goodness, you promise to do God's holy will and to walk with this 
Church in the! truth and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

You covenant with us that you will be loyal to the interests of 
this Church, as long as you remain members of it, that you will 
share in its services as God shall give you strength, that you will 
give for its support and missionary work, as God shall prosper you, 
and that you will co-operate in its work in such manner as you may 
be able, to the end that we may together serve Him who is the Head 
of the Church, and that the Kingdom of God may come and His will 
be done on earth as it is in heaven. 

Welcome by the Church 

We welcome you into our fellowship. We promise to watch 
ove,r you with Christian love. God grant that, loving and being 



100 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

loved, serving and being served, blessing and being blessed, we may 
be! prepared while we dwell together on earth for the perfect com- 
munion of the saints in heaven. 

FIRST CHURCH, DENVER, COLORADO 

Covenant 

"We promise to co-operate with the members of this church in 
the* study and practice of that law which Christ taught as supreme : 
"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all 
thy soul, and with all thy strength ,and with all thy mind; and thy 
neighbor as thyself." 

PILGRIM CHURCH, ST. LOUIS 

Pilgrim Church uses with some modification the form of admis- 
sion of 1895, and adds this: 

Covenant of Christian Discipleship 

Recognizing that the Kingdom of God is not in word but in 
deed, we ask you before God and man to accept severally and in- 
dividually, the covenant under which we are all living and laboring 
together : 

(The new members will repeat together with the Pastor) 

Looking to God in his loving kindness to guide by his light and 
to empower by his grace, I hereby take the Lord Jesus Christ to be 
my Master, consecrating to Him and to his service all that I am 
and all that I have; promising that I will make it the supreme 
purpose of my life to grow into his likeness and to do his works of 
love. 

That I may cultivate the life of faith and be fitted for the, largest 
service, I herby promise to search the Scriptures; to maintain the 
life of prayer; and to devote myself in all the activities of my life 
to bring in the Kingdom of God. 

The Covenant with this Church 

You promise to magnify the privilege of the fellowship into 
which you this day enter; to hold the name of this church dear; to 
avoid anything which may bring reproach upon its honor; regularly 
to attend its services; cheerfully to contribute, according to your 
ability, to its support; generously to aid it in the extension of the 
Kingdom of Christ, and at all times and in all places to endeavor so 
to conduct yourself that your life shall promote its efficiency, purity 
and peace. 

Do you thus promise? 

Response — I do. 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 101 

The Welcome into Fellowship 

(Here the members of the church will rise) 
"We, then, the members of this church, joyfully receive you into 
our communion, promising to walk with you in Christian love as 
members of the Household of the Faith ; to help you in bearing your 
burdens; to promote your welfare as far as in us lies; and to fulfill 
to you the law of Christ our Lord; praying that while we dwell to- 
gether here we may be prepared for the perfect fellowship of the 
life eternal. God grant that we may be faithful to this covenant. 

FIRST CHURCH, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA 

Reception of Members 

You are now to enter into covenant with God and His people. 
You take God the P'ather to be your God; you take Jesus Christ His 
Son to be your Savior and Teacher and. Lord; you take the Holy 
Spirit to be your Guide; you take the Word of God to be your rule 
of faith and duty and the people of God to be your brethren. And 
you promise in humble dependence upon divine help that you will 
strive to live a life of service and of love, seeking to become like 
Jesus Christ and to advance His Kingdom in the world, studying 
day by day the Bible and seeking communion with God in prayer. 
Do you thus believe and promise? 

Answer, I do. 

The Members of the Church Unite in this Response: 

We, the members of this church, do affectionately welcome you 
into our household of faith. We pledge to you our sympathy, our 
help and our prayers that you may evermore increase in the knowl- 
edge and love of God. By His grace may we all walk worthy of the 
calling wherewith we were called, with all lowliness and meekness, 
with long-suffering forbearing one another in love, giving diligence 
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Living and 
dying may we be the Lord's. And at last may we, more than con- 
querors through Him that hath loved us, find entrance into the 
church above where our fellowship shall be unbroken and our joy 
forever full. 

PLYMOUTH CHURCH, DENVER 

Plymouth employs a personal covenant, signed by each member. 
This was arranged especially for young people, who retain a dupli- 
cate of the card signed. 

I accept thankfully God's great love to me. It is my sincere 
desire and purpose to give Him my heart; to love Him, to please 
Him and to give my life to Him. 

I acknowledge the need of the help and guidance of Christ. And 
I take Him to be my Personal Friend, my Saviour from sin and the 
King of my heart and my life. 



102 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

I mean, God helping me, to live a Christian life daily and al- 
ways; to pray each day for God's guidance and help; to live in 
friendliness and helpfulness with those about me; to be faithful in 
my work, whatever it is; and to keep my heart and my life pure. 

I wish to be useful. I mean to use my influence for Christ and 
to be known as His disciple. And it is my purpose to become a 
member of His Church, for the sake of my own Christian growth 
and my larger usefulness . 

THE FIRST CHURCH, KANSAS CITY, MO. 

(This church has the Dayton Creed, but consent to this Cove- 
nant is the only requirement for admission to membership in this 
church.) 

Believing in the life and love of service as set forth in the work 
and teachings of Jesus, in the Church as an organized force in the 
world, the purpose of which is to win men to Christ and to save 
them for this world and the world to come, I cordially connect 
myself with this church in a direct and special union, engaging to 
submit to its rules of government and discipline, to attend in so far 
as possible its ordinances of worship; to contribute to its support 
and its benevolences as the Lord prospers me, and to walk with its 
members in meekness, fidelity and love. 

FIRST CHURCH, BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA 

Covenant 

Believing in the wisdom and the loving kindness of God, our 
Father, and in the saving power of Jesus Christ, His Son, the true 
and living Way, and in the leadership of the Spirit; believing also in 
the supremacy of Love, the victory of holy character and the Life 
Eternal, you covenant with this Church as your Church. You prom- 
ise to love its members, to sustain its worship, to seek its peace, 
purity, and increase, to share the great work of revealing God to 
men, of awakening men to themselves and to God, and of uniting 
men in the spirit of Christ to transform the world into the Kingdom 
of God. 

We the members of this Church and of the Church Universal 
welcome you to our household of faith. We break the bread 1 of life 
with you and drink the cup of blessing. We share with you the 
joy of winning men to our Master. We engage to walk with you in 
Christian fellowship. We covenant with you to make the Church a 
Church of prayer, of right living, and of union with Christ and with 
His disciples everywhere in the service of God and man. 

The covenant of the United Church of Bridgeport, Con- 
necticut, is interesting, as this church was organized in 1916 
out of the union of two churches, one formed in 1695 and the 



COVENANTS OLD AND NEW 103 

other in 1830. The large church resulting from this union is 
one of the strongest in New England, and its platform is of 
especial interest. Its confession of faith is the National Coun- 
cil Creed of 1913, and its form of admission of members 
follows : 

UNITED CHURCH, BRIDGEPORT, CONN. 

Order for the Reception of New Members. 

Address 
Beloved in Christ: — 

You come before us to make confession of the faith that is 
in your hearts and to enter into the communion and fellowship of 
the Church of Christ. Conscious of your unworthiness in the sight 
of God, you do, with contrition and faith, humbly accept the Lord 
Jesus Christ as your Master, earnestly purposing to be obedient to 
Him in all things, as He shall give you grace and strength. 

Statement of Faith 

We believe in God the Father, infinite in Wisdom, Goodness and 
Love, and in Jesus Christ, His Son' our Lord and Saviour, who for us 
and our salvation lived and died and rose again and liveth evermore ; 
and in the Holy Spirit, who taketh of the things of Christ and re- 
vealeth them to us, renewing, comforting and inspiring the souls of 
men. We are united in striving to know the will of God as taught 
in the Holy Scriptures, and in our purpose to walk in His ways as 
they' are made known to us. We hold it to be the mission of the 
Church of Christ to proclaim the gospel to all mankind, exalting the 
worship of the one true God, and laboring for the progress of 
knowledge, the promotion of justice, the reign of peace and the 
realization of human brotherhood. Depending, as did our fathers, 
upon the continual guidance of the Holy Spirit! 1 to lead us into all 
truth, we work and pray for the transformation of the world into 
the kingdom of God and we look with faith for the triumph of right- 
eousness and the life everlasting. 

Question — Is this also your belief and your purpose? 

Answer — It is . 

(Then should follow the Sacrament of Baptism.) 

To the Candidates previously baptized: — You were baptized in 
infancy, at the will of your parents, into the household of Christ. 
Do you now, of your own will and choice, accept and confirm that 
act of consecration? 

Answer: I do. 
To the Candidates by Letter: 

Dearly Beloved: — You have already been received into the fel- 
lowship of the greater Church of Christ. May God bless to you the 
ministrations of this church, and may you strive, with us, to enlarge 
its usefulness and increase its power. 



104 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Covenant 

To all the Candidates: — In the presence of God and of these 
witnesses, you do all now promise to give yourselves unreservedly 
to His service, to strive to know and tb do His holy will, and to 
walk with all men, everywhere, in the love and peace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. And you do covenant with this church to join heartily 
in its fellowship of work and worship, to pray and to labor for its 
increase, purity and peace and to further all its endeavors toi serve 
and save your fellowmen. 

Question: Do you thus covenant with God and with us? 

Answer: I do. 

The Church (rising) — Then do we, the members of this church, 
gladly welcome you to a part with us in the hopes, the labors and 
the joys of the Church of Christ. We promise to walk with you in 
Christian love and sympathy, and to promote, so far as in us lies, 
your edification in the Christian life. We earnestly renew our own 
covenant with Jesus Christ, and again dedicate ourselves to His 
service and the doing of His will. And may God keep us true to 
Him in all things, and bring us every one at length into the Church 
triumphant above! 

Benediction 

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; 

The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, and be gracious 
unto thee; 

The Lord lift up his countenance, upon thee, and give thee 
peace. Num. 6: 24-26. 

Concluding words to new members 

"So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are 
fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. 

"Being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, 
Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone. In whom each 
several building fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple 
in the Lord." Eph. 2: 19-21. 



PART TWO 
CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS 



I. EARLY CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS. 

The earliest Congregational creeds, if we except the 
earlier writings of Robert Browne, are the London Confession 
of 1589 and the Amsterdam Confession of 1596. 

"We have already considered the covenant of the church 
of which Richard Fytz was pastor, and its relation to the 
Plumbers ' Hall Congregation in London in 1567. This organ- 
ization was so harrassed by officers of the law, and so many of 
its members were imprisoned, that it has been uncertain 
whether it preserved a continuity of organization until 1586, 
when we again secure undeniable records of it. John Green- 
wood was arrested in 1586, and with Henry Barrowe was shut 
up in the Fleet Prison, where four years later they both gave 
their lives as martyrs to their faith. Before their death they 
set forth a formal confession which was published in England 
in 1589. It is entitled "A True Description out of the Word 
of God of the Visible Church." A copy of it is in the Dexter 
Collection of the Yale University, and the text is reprinted in 
full in Walker's "Creeds and Platforms," pp. 33-40. The 
notable thing about it is that it contains practically no doc- 
trinal material. Of it Prof. Walker says: 

"The Trve Description is substantially an ideal sketch. 
It could not well be otherwise. Shut up in prison for the ad- 
vocacy of the opinions here presented, the framers of this 

105 



106 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

creed could look nowhere upon earth for full exemplification 
of the polity in which they believed. The church-order which 
they longed for was, they were confident, of the divinely ap- 
pointed pattern. They read its outlines in the New Testament. 
But they had had no experience with its practical workings, 
and hence they pictured a greater degree of spiritual unity 
and brotherliness than even Christian men and women have 
usually shown themselves capable of, and they made little pro- 
vision for the avoidance of the friction inevitable at times in 
conducting the most harmonious societies composed of still 
imperfect men. But the essential features of early Congrega- 
tionalism are here. It is first of all a 'Description ovt of the 
Word of God.' The Bible is made the ultimate standard in 
all matters of church government, as well as points of doctrine. 
Its delineations of church polity and administration are looked 
upon as furnishing an ample and authoritative rule for the 
church in all ages. This true church is not the whole body 
of the baptized inhabitants of a kingdom, but a company of 
men who can lay claim to personal Christian experience, and 
who are united to one another and to Christ in mutual fellow- 
ship. The nature of the officers of this church, their number, 
duties, and character, are all held to be ascertainable from the 
same God- given Word. They are not the bishops, priests, and 
deacons of the Anglican hierarchy, but are pastor and teacher, 
elders, deacons, and widows ; and they hold their office not by 
royal appointment or the nomination of a patron, but 'by 
the holy & free election of the Lordes holie and free people.' 
The whole administration of the church is the concern of all 
the brethren, and the laws governing this administration are 
all derivable from the Scriptures. But on this very question 
of administration, while the Trve Description is not as clear 
as we could wish, it is plain that th$ creed is far removed from 
the practical democracy of Robert Browne or the usage of 
modern Congregationalism. The elders are indeed chosen by 
the whole church, but once having chosen them, the people are 



EARLY CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS 107 

to be 'most humble, meek, obedient, faithfull, and loving.' 
The elders are to see that the other officers do their duties 
aright, and the people obey. But who shall see that the elders 
do their duty, or who shall seriously limit them in their ac- 
tion? That is not made clear. It is evident that the Trve 
Description would place the elders apart from and above the 
brethren as a ruling class, having the initiative in business, 
being themselves the church in all maters of excommunication, 
and leaving to the brethren only the power of election, ap- 
proval of the elders ' actions, and an undefined right to reprove 
the elders if their conduct should not be in accord with the 
New Testament standard. This conception of the elders as a 
ruling oligarchy in the church is, in fact, the view elaborated 
by Barrowe in his other writings, and is the theory which Dr. 
Dexter happily termed Barrowism, in distinction from the un- 
intentional but thorough-going democracy of Robert Browne. 
It is a theory which colors the creeds of more than a century 
of early Congregationalism. 

''The almost complete absence of distinctly doctrinal 
statement in this creed is accounted for by the fact that these 
London Separatists were in full doctrinal sympathy with the 
then predominantly Calvinistic views of the English Estab- 
lished Church from which they had come out, and did not feel 
the necessity of demonstrating their doctrinal soundness, as 
they were shortly after impelled to do. when settled among 
strangers in a foreign land/' — Creeds and Platforms, pp, 
31, 32. 

The London Church, from which issued 'The True Des- 
cription,' chose in September, 1592, Francis Johnson as its 
pastor and John Greenwood as its teacher. Both of these 
men were soon in prison, and no less than 56 members of the 
congregation shared the suffering and arrest of their spiritual 
leaders. Greenwood was put to death; Johnson's life was 
spared. From the summer of 1593 onward the members of 
this church, driven from their own land by cruel persecution, 



108 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

began assembling in the neighborhood of Amsterdam. In 
1595, or possibly a little earlier, they called Henry Ainsworth 
to be their teacher in place of Greenwood, Avho had suffered 
death. Francis Johnson was still in prison in London. The 
church was thus divided, part of it in exile and part of it 
either in jail or hunted by officers of the law in the home land. 
In 1596 this persecuted church issued in Amsterdam a booklet 
of 24 pages, entitled "A True Confession of the Faith, and 
Humble Acknowledgement of the Allegiance, which We, Her 
Majesty's Subjects, falsely called Brownists, do Hold Towards 
God, and Yield to her Majesty and all Other that are Over 
us in the Lord." (For the text, see Walker's Creeds and 
Platforms, pp. 49-74.) This little book, wrought out in the 
heat of a terrible persecution's more controversial in tone, and 
contains somewhat more of doctrine than the earlier confes- 
sion; but the doctrine was in the most literal possible sense a 
testimony and not a test. In so far as doctrinal material was 
wrought into it, it was for the purpose of defending the 
church against false charges, or of testifying to the essential 
oneness of these early Congregationalists with their brethren 
in the Established Church on vital matters of faith. It was in 
polity they differed, not in matters contained in the creed. 

The next notable deliverance of Congregationalism ap- 
peared in 1603, the year of Elizabeth's death and of the coro- 
nation of James. The church in Amsterdam sent to the new 
king, apparently by the hand of Johnson and Ainsworth, 
a petition that they might be permitted to return to their 
own land and worship God there without being the victims of 
persecution. This petition was accompanied by a statement 
of "The Points of Difference" between the Puritans and the 
Church of England. There were fourteen of these points, all 
of them relating to Polity (Walker "Creeds and Platforms," 
pp. 77-80). 

The next document which might be called a Confession 
of Faith, was issued by the Scrooby Church, then in exile in 



EARLY CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS 109 

Leyden, in 1617, Being then earnestly desirous of departing 
from Holland and establishing themselves in America, this 
church sent to the Council of England seven articles, signed 
by John Robinson and William Brewster, in which they set 
forth their distinctive views as a basis for their plea as loyal 
subjects that they might be permitted to establish themselves 
in a new home in a new world. The following is the text of 
these articles : 

Seven Articles which the Church of Leyden sent to the Council 
of England to be considered of, in respect of their Judgments: oc- 
casioned about their going to Virginia. [Date before Nov., 1617; 
spelling modernized.] 

1. To the Confession of Faith published in the name of the 
Church of England, and to every Article thereof; we do (with the 
Reformed Churches where we live, and also elsewhere) assent 
wholly. 

2. As we do acknowledge the Doctrine of Faith there taught; 
so do we, the fruits and effects of the same Doctrine, to the beget- 
ting of saving faith in thousands in the land, Conformists and Re- 
formists, as they are called : with whom also, as with our brethren, 
we do desire to keep spiritual communion in peace ; and will prac- 
tice in our parts all lawful things. 

3. The King's Majesty we acknowledge for Supreme Governor 
in his Dominions in all causes, and over all persons : and that none 
may decline or appeal from his authority or judgment in any cause 
whatsoever: but that in all things obedience is due unto him; 
either active, if the thing commanded be not against GOD'S Word; 
or passive, if it be, except pardon can be obtained. 

4. We judge it lawful for His Majesty to appoint Bishops Civil 
Overseers or Officers in authority under him in the several Provinc- 
es, Dioceses, Congregations, or Parishes, to oversee the Churches, 
and govern them civilly according to the laws of the land: unto 
whom, they are, in all things, to give an account; and by them, to 
be ordered according to godliness. 

5. The authority of the present Bishops in the land, we do 
acknowledge so far forth as the same is indeed derived from His 
Majesty unto them; and as they proceed in his name: whom we 
will also therein honor in all things; and him, in them. 

6. We believe that no Synod, Classes, Convocation, or Assembly 
of Ecclesiastical Officers hath any power or authority at all but as 
the same by the Magistrate given unto them. 

7. Lastly, we desire to give unto all Superiors due honor, to 
preserve the unity of the Spirit with all that fear GOD, to have 
peace with all men what in us lieth, and wherein we err to be in- 
structed by any. 

Subscribed by John Robinson and William Brewster. 



110 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

As action upon their petition was delayed, and the effort 
resulted in repeated disappointment, the leaders of the Leyden 
church had a somewhat extended correspondence with Sir 
John Wolstenholme, to whom they wrote on December 15, 
1617, the following, which may be considered a confession, 
not of their doctrinal belief, but of their working faith : 

1. We veryly beleeve & trust y e Lord is with us, unto whom 
& whose service we have given ourselves in many trialls; and that 
he will graciously prosper our indeavours according to y e simplicitie 
of our harts therin. 

2!y. We are well weaned from y 6 delicate milke of our mother 
countries and enured to y e difficulties of a strange and hard land, 
which yet in a great parte we have by patience overcome. 

$y. The people are for the body of them, industrious, & frugall, 
we thinke we may safly say, as any company of people in the world. 

4!y. We are knite togeather as a body in a most stricte & sacred 
bond and covenante of the Lord, of the violation whereof we make 
great conscience, and by vertue whereof we doe hould our selves 
straitly tied to all care of each others good, and of y e whole by 
every one and so mutually. 

5. Lastly, it is not with us as with other men, whom small 
things can discourage, or small discontentments cause to wish them 
selves at home againe. We knowe, our entertainmente in England, 
and in Holland; we shall much prejudice both our arts & means by 
removall; who, if we should be driven to returne, we should not 
hope to recover our present helps and comforts, neither indeed 
looke ever, for our selves, to attaine unto y e like in any other place 
during our lives, w ch are now drawing towards their periods. 

About a month later, in January, 1618, the Pilgrims were 
constrained to send two brief notes covering points that had 
been raised concerning their views of the ministry and kindred 
matter ; and not feeling sure whether it would be better that 
their views should be presented in a more concise or more 
extended form, they sent the two simultaneously, both signed, 
as the previous statements had been, by John Robinson and 
William Brewster: 

The first breefe note was this. 

Touching y e Ecclesiasticall ministrie, namly of pastores for 
teaching, elders for ruling, & deacons for distributing y e churches 
contribution, as allso for y e too Sacrements, baptisme, and y e Lords 



EARLY CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS 111 

supper, we doe wholy and in all points agree, with y e French re- 
formed churches, according to their publick confession of faith. 

The oath of Supremacie we shall willingly take if it be required 
of us, and that convenient satisfaction be not given by our taking 
y e oath of Alleagence. 

John Rob: 
William Brewster. 

Ye 2. was this. 

Touching y e Ecclesiasticall ministrie, &c. as in y e former, we 
agree in all things with the French reformed churches, according 
to their publick confession of faith; though some small differences 
be to be found in our practices, not at all in ye substance of the 
things, but only in some accidentall circumstances. 

1. As first, their ministers doe pray with their heads covered; 
ours uncovered. 

2. We chose none for Governing Elders but such as are able 
to teach; which abilitie they doe not require. 

3. Their elders & deacons are annuall, or at most for 2. or 
3. years; our perpetuall. 

4. Our elders doe administer their office in admonitions & ex- 
communications for publick scandals, publickly & before y e con- 
gregation; theirs more privately, & in their consistories. 

5. We doe administer baptisme only to such infants as whereof 
y e one parente, at y e least, is of some church, which some of ther 
churches doe not observe; though in it our practice accords with 
their publick confession and y e judgmente of y e most larned 
amongst them. 

Other differences, worthy mentioning, we know none in these 
points. Then aboute y e oath, as in y e former. 

Subscribed, John R. 

W. B. 

The notable thing about all these confessions is that from 
first to last they say practically nothing about doctrine. We 
are entirely certain that none of the men who wrought these 
documents practiced or believed in creed tests as a method 
of separating one Christian body from another. 



II. LOCAL CHURCH CREEDS 

It has been said repeatedly that none of the older Con- 
gregational churches had creeds. That statement need not be 
recalled nor greatly qualified. Yet it is to be remembered that 
the covenant was not regarded as sacred by reason of the 
particular form of words which it contained, but was changed 
in many cases at the discretion of the minister. Among the 
many confessions employed at one time and another in local 
churches it would have been strange if some had not included 
matter which was more or less doctrinal. We have noted the 
temporary use in the Old South in Boston of a quasi credal 
test during the pastorate of Rev. Samuel Blair for a few 
months in 1769. There may have been a few other instances, 
but if so they were local and for the most part temporary. It 
has been noted, also, that Rev. Hugh Peter, coming from Rot- 
terdam to the Church in Salem, renewed the covenant, and 
made it longer. We are informed in contemporary manu- 
scripts that Mr. Peter was given to making covenants of his 
own sort, and Burrage notes some instances (The Covenant 
Idea, pp. 81-82). These covenants he imposed upon the mem- 
bers of his congregation as tests of admission to the Lord's 
Supper. We have two covenants of his [ church in Rotterdam, 
one of 1633, and the other of 1635 or thereabout ; but while 
they were rigid, and were imposed as tests of fellowship at the 
Lord's table, they were not doctrinal. We give here the text 
of this covenant, which, while not doctrinal, was used as a test 
in a sense that the earlier covenants were not commonly em- 
ployed : 

112 



LOCAL CHURCH CREEDS 113 

THE COVENANT OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH AT ROTERDAME 

The text is from "A Briefe Narration of Some Church Courses," 
etc., by William Rathband. London, 1644. Pp. 17, 18. Rathband 
states concerning this covenant that it is "The Covenant of the 
English Church at Roterdame (as is reported to us) renewed when 
Mr. H. P. was made their Pastour," which Burrage shows cannot 
well be correct as to date. This probably dates from about 1 1635, 
shortly before, Mr. Peter came to America. 

We whose names are here-under written, having a long time 
found by sad experience how uncomfortable it is to walk in a dis- 
ordered and unsettled condition, &c. 1. Doe renue our Covenant in 
Baptisme, and avouch God to be our God. 2. We resolve to cleave 
to the true and pure worship of God, opposing to our power all false 
wayes. 3. We will not allow our selves in any known sin, but will 
renounce it, so soon as it is manifested from Gods Word so to be: 
the Lord lending us power. 4. We resolve to carry our selves in 
our severall places of government and obedience with all good con- 
science, knewing we must give an account to God. 5. We will 
labour for further growth in grace, by hearing, reading, prayer, 
meditation, and all other wayes we can. 6. We meane not to over- 
burthen our hearts with earthly cares, which are the bane of all 
holy duties, the breach of the Sabbath, and the other Command- 
ments. 7. We will willingly and meekly submit to Christian Disci- 
pline, without murmuring, and shall labour so to continue, and will 
endevour to be more forward, zealous, faithfull, loving and wise in 
admonishing others. 8. We will labour by all our abilities for the 
furtherance of the Gospell as occasion shall be offered to us. 9. We 
promise to have our children, servants, and all our charge taught 
the wayes of God. 10. We will strive to give no offence to our 
brethren by censuring them rashly by suspitions, evill speakings, or 
any other way. 11. Lastly, we doe protest not onely against open 
and scandalous sins, as drunkennesse, swearing, &c, but also 
against evill companie, and all appearance of evill to the utmost of 
our power. Per me H. P. 

When Mr. Peter came to Salem, he enlarged the covenant, 
as we have already noted, from the simple form which had 
been adoptd in 1629, to that which we have given in the chap- 
ter on early covenants ; and thereto added certain particulars. 
It is nothing less than remarkable that these were none of them 
doctrinal : 

PETER 'S SALEM COVENANT, 1636 

Gather by Saints together unto me, that have made a covenant 
with me by sacrifice. Ps. 50: 5. 



114 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

We whose names are here-under written, members of the 
present Church of Christ in Salem, having found by sad experience 
how dangerous it is to sitt loose to the Covenant wee make with our 
God: and how apt wee are to wander into by pathes, even to the 
looseing of our first aimes in entring into Church fellowship: Doe 
therefore solemnly in the presence of the Eternall God, both for our 
own comforts, and those which shall or maye be joyned unto us, 
renewe that Church Covenant we find this Church bound unto at 
theire first beginning, viz: That We Covenant with the Lord and 
with an other; and doe bynd our selves in the presence of God, to 
walke together in all his waies, according as he is pleased to reveale 
himself unto us in his Blessed word of truth. And doe more ex- 
plicitely in the name and feare of God, profess and protest to walke 
as followeth through the power and grace of our Lord Jesus. 

1 first wee avowe the Lord to be our God, and our selves his 
people in the truth and simplicitie of our spirits. 

2 We give our selves to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the word 
of his grace, fore the teaching, ruleing and sanctifyeing of us in 
matters of worship, and Conversation, resolveing to cleave to him 
alone for life and glorie; and oppose all contrarie wayes, cannons 
and constitutions of men in his worship. 

3 Wee promise to walke with our brethren and sisters in this 
Congregation with all watchfullnes and tendernes, avoyding all 
jelousies, suspitions, backbyteings, censurings, provoakings, secrete 
risings of spirite against them; but in all offences to follow the rule 
of the Lord Jesus, and to beare and forbeare, give and forgive as he 
hath taught us. 

4 In publick or in private, we will willingly doe nothing to the 
ofence of the Church but will be willing to take advise for ourselves 
and ours as ocasion shalbe presented. 

5 Wee will not in the Congregation be forward eyther to shew 
oure owne gifts or parts in speaking or scrupling, or there discover 
the fayling of oure brethren or sisters butt atend an orderly cale 
there unto; knowing how much the Lord may be dishonoured, and 
his Gospell in the prefession of it, sleighted, by our distempers, and 
weaknesses in publyck. 

6 Wee bynd our selves to studdy the advancement of the Gos- 
pell in all truth and peace, both in regard of those that are within, 
or without, noe way sleighting our sister Churches, but useing 
theire Counsell as need shalbe: nor laying a stumbling block before 
any, noe not the Indians, whose good we desire to promote, and soe 
to converse, as we may avoyd the verrye appearance of evill. 

7 We hearbye promise to carrye our selves in all lawfull obd- 
ience, to those that are over us, in Church or Commonweal©, know- 
ing how well pleasing it will be to the Lord, that they should have 
incouragement in theire places, by our not greiveing theyre spirites 
through our Irregularities. 

8 Wee resolve to approve our selves to the Lord in our pertic- 
ular calings, shunning ydleness as the bane of any state, nor will 
wee deale hardly, or oppressingly with any, wherein we are the 
Lord's stewards: 



LOCAL CHURCH CREEDS 115 

9 alsoe proinyseing to our best abilitie to teach our children 
and servants, the knowledg of God and his will, that they may serve 
him also; and all this, not by any strengh of our owne, but by the 
Lord Christ, whose bloud we desire may sprinckle this our Cove- 
nant made in his name. — Walker: "Creeds and Platforms," pp. 
117-118. 

Something approaching a genuine creed arose, however, 
in Salem, in 1665, "whereby to express their common faith 
and salvation, and not to be made use of as an imposition upon 
any." This notable reservation shows with what care the 
Puritan fathers gave their qualified assent to any form of 
creed. Walker points out that this was probably used in part 
as a half-way covenant. — Creeds and Platforms, p. 121. 

THE CONFESSION OF FAITH 
I do believe with my heart and confess with my mouth. 

Concerning God. 

That there is but one only true God in three persons, the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, each of them God, and all of 
them one and the same Infinite, Eternal God, most Wise, Holy, 
Just, Mercifull and Blessed for ever. 

Concerning the Works of God. 

That this God is the Maker, Preserver, and Governour of all 
things according to the counsel of his own Will, and that God made 
man in his own Image, in Knowledge, Holiness and Righteousness. 

Concerning the Fall of Man. 

That Adam by transgressing the Command of God, fell from 
God and brought himself and his posterity into a state, of Sin 
and death, under the Wrath and Curse of God, which I do believe 
to be my own condition by nature as well as any other. 

Concerning Jesus Christ. 

That God sent his Son into the World, who for our sakes became 
man, that he might redeem and save us by his Obedience unto death, 
and that he arose from the dead, ascended unto Heaven and sitteth 
at the right hand of God, from whence he shall come to judge the 
World. 



116 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Concerning the Holy Ghost. 

That God the holy Ghost hath fully revealed the Doctrine of 
Christ and will of God in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ment, which are the Word of God, the perfect, perpetuall and only 
Rule of our Faith and Obedience. 

Concerning the Benefits we have by Christ. 

That the same Spirit by Working Faith in Gods Elect, applyeth 
unto them Christ with all his Benefits of Justification, and Sancti- 
flcation, unto Salvation, in the use of those Ordinances which 
God hath appointed in his written word, which therefore ought to 
be observed by us until the coming of Christ. 

Concerning the Church of Christ. 

That all true Believers being united unto Christ as the Head, 
make up one Misticall Church which is the Body of Christ, the 
members wherof having fellowship with the Father Son and Holy- 
Ghost by Faith, and one with an other in love, doe, receive here 
upon earth forgiveness of Sinnes, with the life of grace, and at the 
Resurrection of the Body, they shall receive everlasting life. Amen. 

THE COVENANT: 

I do heartily take and avouch this one God who is made known 
to us in the Scripture, by the Name of God the Father, and God 
the Son even Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Ghost to be my God, 
according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace; wherein he 
hath promised to be a God to the Faithful! and their seed after 
them in their Generations, and taketh them to be his People, and 
therefore unfeignedly repenting of all my sins, I do give up myself 
wholy unto this God to believe in love, serve & Obey him sincerely 
and faithfully according to his written word, against all the tempta- 
tions of the Devil, the World, and my own flesh and this unto the 
death. 

I do also consent to be a Member of this particular Church, 
promising to continue steadfastly in fellowship with it, in the pub- 
lick Worship of God, to submit to the Order Discipline and Govern- 
ment of Christ in it, and to the Ministerial teaching guidance and 
oversight of the Elders of it, and to the brotherly watch of Fel- 
lowship Members: and all this according to Gods Word, and by 
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ enabling me thereunto. Amen. 

Questions to be Answered at the Baptizing of Children, or 
the substance to be expressed by the Parents. 

Quest. Doe you present and give up this child, or these children, 
unto God the Father, Sonne and Holy Ghost, to be baptized in the 
Faith, and Engaged in the Covinant of God professed by this Church? 



LOCAL CHURCH CREEDS 117 

Quest. Doe you Sollemnly Promise in the Presence, of God, 
that by the grace of Christ, you will discharge your Covinant duty 
towards your Children, soe as to bring them up in the Nurture and 
Admonition of the Lord, teaching and commanding them to keep 
the way of God, that they may be able (through the grace of Christ) 
to make a personall profession of their Faith and to own the Covi- 
nant of God themselves in due time. 

The clearest exception to the rule that the early Congre- 
gational churches had no creeds, is found in the church of 
Windsor, Conn., in a document prepared by its pastor, Rev. 
John Warham, in 1647. It is in credal form, and is the oldest 
creed in Connecticut, and one of the oldest of all Congrega- 
tional creeds. Yet it will be noted that the doctrinal part is 
relatively small, being contained in the first three articles 
which are virtually a preamble to the longer and more funda- 
mental articles, four in number, which constitute and inter- 
pret the church covenant. The text is from Walker 's ' ' Creeds 
and Platforms," pp. 157-158. 

THE WINDSOR CREED- COVENANT, 1647 

1. We believe though God made man in an holy and blessed 
condition, yet by his fall he hath plunged himself and all his pos- 
terity into a miserable state. — Rom. iii: 23; v: 12. 

2. Yet God hath provided a sufficient remedy in Christ for all 
broken hearted sinners that are loosened from their sins and selves 
and world, and are enabled by faith to look to Him in Christ, for 
mercy, inasmuch as Christ hath done and suffered for such whatever 
His justice requires to atonement and life; and He doth accept His 
merits and righteousness for them that believe in Him, and im- 
puteth it to them to their justification, as if they had satisfied and 
obeyed, themselves. — Heb. vii: 25; Mat. xi: 28; xxii: 24; v: 4, 6; 
1 Cor. i: 30; Rom. iv: 3, 5; v: 19. 

3. Yet we believe that there is no other name or means to be 
saved from guilt and the power of sin. — John xiv: 6; Acts iv: 12. 

4. "We believe God hath made an everlasting covenant in Christ 
with all penitent sinners that rest on him in Christ, never to reject, 
or cease to do them good. — Heb. viii: 6; vii: 22; 1 Sam. xii: 22; 
Jere. xxxii: 40. 

5. We believe this covenant to be reciprocal, obliging us to 
be, his people, to love, fear, obey, cleave to him, and serve him with 
all our heart, mind, and soul ; as him to be our God, to love, choose, 
delight in us, and save and bless us in Christ: yea, as his covenant 
binds us to love him and his Christ for his own sake, so to love our 



118 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

brethren for his sake. — Deut. x: 12; Hos. iii: 3; ii: 21; Deut. xxvi: 
17-19; John iv: 21. 

6. We believe that God's people, besides their general covenant 
with God, to walk in subjection to him, and Christian love to all 
his people, ought also to join themselves into a church covenant 
one with another, and to enter into a particular combination to- 
gether with some of his people to erect a particular ecclesiastical 
body, and kingdom, and visible family and household of God, for 
the managing of discipline and public ordinances of Christ in one 
place in a dutiful way, there to worship God and Christ, as his 
visible kingdom and subjects, in that place waiting on him for that 
blessing of his ordinances and promises of his covenant, by holding 
communion with him and his people, in the doctrine and discipline 
of that visible kingdom, where it may be attained. — Rom. xii: 4, 5, 
6; 1 Cor. xii: 27, 28; Ephes. iv: 11, 12; Acts ii: 47; Exod. xii: 43, 44, 
45; Gen. xvii: 13; Isa. xxiii: 4. 

7. We for ourselves, in the sense, of our misery by the fall 
and utter helplessness elsewhere, desire to renounce all other sav- 
iours but his Christ, and to rest on God in him alone, for all happi- 
ness, and salvation from all misery; and to here, bind ourselves, in 
the presence of men and angels, by his grace assisting us, to choose 
the Lord, to serve him, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep all 
his commandments and ordinances, and his Christ to be our king, 
priest and prophet, and to receive his gospel alone for the rule of 
our faith and manners, and to [be] subject to the whole will of 
Christ so far as we shall understand it; and bind ourselves in spe- 
cial to all the members of this body, to walk in reverend subjection 
in the Lord to all our superiours, and in love, humility, wisdom, 
peaceableness, meekness, inoffensiveness, mercy, charity, spiritual 
helpfulness, watchfulness, chastity, justice, truth, self-denial, one 
to another, and to further the spiritual good one of another, by 
example, counsel, admonition, comfort, oversight, according to God, 
and submit or [selves] subject unto all church administration in 
the Lord. 



III. THE CONFESSIONS OF 1648 AND 1680 

Five times the Congregational churches of the United 
States or the Colonies in national gatherings have signified a 
more or less elastic approval of formal confessions of faith. 
These confessions fell into two groups, separated in time by 
nearly two hundred years. The first two were the confessions 
of Westminster and Savoy, affirmed with little modification 
but with a considerable degree of elasticity, the first in 1648 
and the second in 1680. These confessions were reaffirmed 
with an important preface, at Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1708. 

(1) THE CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM OF 1648 

The Cambridge Synod was convened by call of the Gen- 
eral Court of Massachusetts, with particular reference to the 
formulation of a reply to two sets of questions which had been 
received by ministers and churches in New England from 
churches and ministers in England. One of these was ad- 
dressed to the ministers, and asked for the judgment of the 
New England brethren concerning "nine positions;" the 
other, was a communication to the churches of New England 
from the Puritan churches of England propounding thirty- 
two questions relating to church government. A call was 
issued by the General Court, as follows : 

That there be a public assembly of the Elders and other mes- 
sengers of the several churches, within this jurisdiction, who may 
come together, and meet at Cambridge, upon the first day of 
September, now next ensuing, then to discuss, dispute, and clear 
up by the word of God, such questions of church government and 
discipline, in the things aforementioned or any other, as they shall 
think needful and meet, and continue so doing till they or the 
major part of them shall have agreed and consented upon one form 
of government and discipline, for the main and substantial parts 
thereof, as that which they judge agreeable to the Holy Scriptures. 

119 



120 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

The Synod convened in Cambridge, Mass., in September, 
1646, and continued in session for fourteen days. It held two 
adjourned meetings in 1647, and a final ten days' session in 
August, 1648. 

In the interval between the extended sessions of the 
Synod, the General Court submitted to the Synod the further 
responsibility of setting forth "a confession of faith which it 
professes touching the doctrinal part of the religion also," 
asking the Synod to consider seven different confessions that 
had been prepared by different New England ministers and to 
formulate one which might be printed and commended to the 
churches. 

Dr. Walker says, ' ' As the Synod went on, the conception 
of its possible functions modified. The original thought of the 
Court had been a settlement of church polity, with special 
attention to the disputed questions of baptism and church 
membership. Circumstances had made those questions less 
pressing, and had brought into greater prominence the broad- 
er function of the Synod, that of giving a Constitution to the 
churches, but it might do even more. The "Westminster As- 
sembly had prepared a Confession of Faith in regard to which 
much secrecy was still observed. It had not yet been adopted 
by Parliament, though approved August 27, 1647, by the 
Scotch General Assembly. There was reason to fear that it 
might not be wholly satisfactory, and therefore at its session 
on October 27, 1647, the Massachusetts General Court added 
to the duties of the Synod that of preparing a Confession of 
Faith."— Creeds and Platforms, pp. 182, 183. 

By the time the Synod met again in 1648, copies of the 
Westminster Confession were in the hands of the members of 
that body. It offered a convenient way out of a more or less 
difficult situation. It saved the Synod any trouble in the way 
of choosing among the confessions that had been prepared for 
other purposes by the different ministers within its member- 
ship, and what was more important, it enabled the Puritans of 



THE CONFESSIONS OF 1648 AND 1680 121 

New England to certify to the Puritans of old England that 
they were more orthodox than they had been suspected of 
being. Instead, therefore, of preparing a new creed, they 
voted to approve the doctrinal part of the Westminster Con- 
fession ' ' for the substance thereof. ' ' They came very quickly 
to this agreement, and were happy that they were able to do 
so. They joined in a parting hymn and went home sooner 
than they had anticipated. 

For the most part, the Westminster Confession was a 
satisfactory statement of their own doctrinal positions, and 
wherein they differed, the phrase ' ' for the substance thereof ' \ 
assisted their consciences, as it helped the conscience of many 
of their descendants in subsequent years. 

(2) THE REFORMING SYNOD OF 1679-80 

As in the case of the Cambridge Synod, so of the reform- 
ing Synod at Boston, the churches were called together to 
consider practical matters of administration and discipline, 
and came to their doctrinal confession at a subsequent session. 

The Reforming Synod was called by the General Court, 
and met in Boston, September 10, 1679. Two questions were 
discussed, "1. What are the evils that have provoked the 
Lord to bring his judgments on New England? 2. What is 
to be done so that these evils may be reformed 1 ' ' 

This Synod having disposed of the main questions which 
brought the churches together, approved the Cambridge Plat- 
form, which it had been proposed to amend, still using the 
convenient and altogether proper qualifying phrase "for the 
substance of it." 

The second session was held definitely to consider a con- 
fession of faith ; and again, as before, it was rather expected 
that the New England divines would produce a creed of their 
own; for New England had no general confession, having in 
1648 adopted without very much consideration the doctrinal 
parts of the Westminster Confession, in a way that bound no 



122 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

one very closely to adhere to it. But as in the earlier Synod, 
an easier method presented itself than that of preparing a new 
confession. The Savoy Declaration of 1658 had been adopted 
m England and forthwith became the recognized expression 
of the general ' faith of Congregationalism. Rev. Urian 
Oakes and Dr. Increase Mather, who were appointed on the 
Creed Committee of the Reforming Synod, had both been in 
England during the meeting at the Savoy, and they followed 
the example of the earlier Synod of proposing an endorsement 
of the Savoy Declaration instead of undertaking a new con- 
fession. The reason was that the Puritans in America wished 
as much as possible to express their faith in the same terms 
as those employed by their brethren in England. The English 
Puritans were inclined to be suspicious of the orthodoxy of 
their American brethren, and the easiest way to show them 
that the Americans were sound in the faith was to adopt their 
own confession * ' for the substance thereof. ' ' 

' ' The Preface declares that the Savoy Confession, slightly 
modified, 'was twice publickly read, examined and approved 
of. ' by the Synod ; and that as at Cambridge in 1648, a desire 
to avoid any imputation of heresy from the Puritan party in 
England led the Synod to prefer the formulae of well-known 
English assemblies to an expression of faith in its own lan- 
guage. The fact was, that however individual New England 
might be in church polity, no doctrinal peculiarities had as 
yet developed on this side of the Atlantic. No doctrinal dis- 
cussions of consequences had taken place. The New England 
Churches still stood, as a body, with uncriticizing loyalty on 
the basis of the Puritan theology of England as it had been 
in the first half of the seventeenth century." — Walker: 
Creeds and Platforms, p. 421. 

The Confessions of 1648 and 1680 served the New Eng- 
land churches rather as substitutes for a confession of faith 
than as an adequate expression thereof. The New England 
churches felt no great need of such confessions, but did feel 



THE CONFESSIONS OF 1648 AND 1680 123 

the need of a sympathetic bond of union with their brethren 
in England and Scotland. Increasingly the inadequacy of 
such symbols was felt; but when in 1865 the Burial Hill 
Declaration was adopted, there were those who protested 
against its irreverence in having added anything to confessions 
so venerable. Prof. Edward A. Lawrence, of Connecticut, 
contributed to the Congregational Quarterly for April, 1866, 
an extended article denouncing "The revolutionary movement, 
hurriedly started on the way to Plymouth, and carried out 
among the tombs of the fathers in such a tumult, almost tem- 
pest, of ecclesiastical passion." He counted it "a marvel if 
the bones of the ancient dead were not disquieted in their 
graves," and wondered "that the spirits of our godly sires 
did not rise and rebuke their irreverent sons." That the 
reference to Calvinism in the Committee's earlier report 
should have been juggled out of the confession "in the midst 
of such serio-comic transactions" and a new confession 
adopted as a kind of incident in an excursion, seemed to him 
a horrible desecration, and led him to recall the original cir- 
cumstances of the approval of the Westminster Confession in 
1648, and of that of Savoy in 1680. He did this with such 
accuracy of scholarship and such sympatic Avith the result 
that we gladly preserve here his excellent account of these two 
Confessions as they formulated in England and approved in 
New England. 

He admitted that for something like 100 years New Eng- 
land had paid very little attention to these two venerable con- 
fessions, but believed that the Council of 1865 by its irreverent 
reference to these confessions in the Burial Hill declaration 
would serve to ' ' rake them from the ashes of the past and re- 
place them on the shelves of our honored and increasing theo- 
logical literature. ' ' That has not been precisely the result of 
the action of 1865, but Dr. Lawrence's article has historical 
value. Kef erring to these two confessions he said : 



124 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

' ' In strictness of speech, neither of these confessions was 
'set forth' by either of the synods referred to. The Synod 
of 1648 simply gave their assent to, or reaffirmed, the doctrinal 
part of the Westminster confession. 'This synod, having 
perused and considered (with mnch gladness of heart and 
thankfulness/ to God) the confession of faith published by the 
late reverend Assembly in England, do judge it to be very 
holy, orthodox, and judicious in all matters of faith, and do 
therefore freely and fully consent thereunto, for the substance 
thereof. Only, in those things which have respect to church 
government and discipline, we do refer ourselves to the plat- 
form of discipline agreed upon by this present assembly, and 
we do therefore think it meet that this confession of faith 
should be commended to the churches of Christ among us, and 
to the learned court, as worthy of their due consideration and 
acceptance.' " — Mather's Magnalia, ii. 155. 

This confession — the joint production of the Westminster 
Assembly of Presbyterians and Congregationalists — is a strict- 
ly Presbyterian symbol. It is the accredited standard of theol- 
ogy and ecclesiastical law in both of the great branches of 
the Presbyterian Church in the United States. The Congre- 
gationalists in the Assembly were able debaters and strong 
men ; but they were largely outnumbered by the Presbyterians, 
who were also some of them very strong men. They agreed on 
a statement of doctrine, to which all subscribed, but to the 
polity of the body the Congregationalists gave no assent; 
neither did the Parliament of England, nor the people. 

"During the Commonwealth, the Congregational church- 
es increased rapidly in number and importance. A little be- 
fore the Protector's death, they petitioned him for liberty to 
call a synod, in order to prepare and set forth a Congrega- 
tional Confession of Faith. Some of the court opposed it. 
But Cromwell said it should be granted ; ' they must be satis- 
fied,' and gave consent. On the 12th of October, 1658, the 
elders and messengers from a hundred and twenty churches 



THE CONFESSIONS OP 1648 AND 1680 125 

assembled at the Savoy, the old ecclesiastical head-quarters, in 
the city of London, — the former assembly being held at the 
chapel of Henry VII., within the corporate limits of the city 
of Westminster. They opened the synod with a day of fasting 
and prayer. After debating awhile whether they should adopt 
the doctrinal articles of the Westminster Assembly, or draw 
up a new declaration, they decided to do neither exactly, but 
to modify and amend the former, keeping as near to the 
methods and spirit of it as possible. The committee appointed 
to the work were Drs. Goodwin and Owen, and Messrs. Nye, 
Bridge, Caryl, and Greenhill. The assembly were in session 
eleven working, and two or three worshiping days. Their ob- 
ject was harmoniously and happily accomplished, and set 
forth as 'A Declaration of Faith and Order, avowed and prac- 
ticed in the Congregational Churches in England. ' 

*' ' Here now a Congregational Confession, the first general 
one since the Apostles' creed, gradually sprang up in the days 
of primitive Congregationalism. And, one has only to exam- 
ine it attentively, to see that it is in the true apostolic succes- 
sion of creeds, by a living chain from that early one, down 
through the Nicene, Chalcedo-Athanasian and the great Prot- 
estant utterances. It is in substantial agreement with the 
Thirty-nine Articles, the admirable doctrinal standard of the 
Church of England ; and in nearly circumstantial accord with 
that of the Presbyterians. 

• ' Some doubted, as we have said, the wisdom of any action 
upon this subject by the Council. Our Congregational fathers 
at the Savoy placed their declaration on the ground of a pri- 
mary duty. 'The confession of the faith that isi in us,' say 
they, 'when justly called for, is so indispensable a due all owe 
to the glory of the sovereign God, that it is ranked among the 
duties of the first commandment.' — Hairibury's Memorials, iii. 
417. And for want of such a confession, they say, "the gen- 
erality of churches have been, in a manner, like so many ships, 
though holding forth the same general colors, launched singly, 



126 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

and sailing apart and alone in the vast ocean of these tumult- 
uous times, and have been exposed to: every wind of doctrine, 
under no other conduct than the Word and Spirit. 7 — Han- 
bury' s Memorials, iii. 523. 

"By way of explaining their divergencies from the West- 
minster Confession, 'A few things,' they say, 'we have added 
for obviating some erroneous opinions that have been more 
broadly and boldly here of late maintained by the asserters, 
than in former times ; and have made other additions and al- 
terations in method here and there, and some clearer explana- 
tions as we found occasion.' They substitute for the list of 
books of the Bible, given in the Westminster, simply the num- 
ber, ' sixty-six. ' In the sixth chapter, on the Fall of Man, 
they introduce the covenant of works and of life, which is not 
in the Westminster; and where the Westminster says, 'they 
fell, ■ the Savoy has it, ' they, and we in them, fell. ' It omits 
the fourth section of the twentieth chapter, on disturbers of 
the peace of the church ; the latter part of the twenty-fourth, 
on Marriage and Divorce; the thirtieth, on Church Censures, 
and the thirty-first, on Synods and Councils. They added an 
entire chapter on the Gospel, following that on the Law, but 
which was made up of principles scattered through the Con- 
fessions. Some doctrines are shaded differently. The West- 
minster fathers say, 'They' — our first parents- — 'being the root 
of all mankind;' the Savoy are more full, — 'They being the 
root, and, by God's appointment, standing in the room and 
stead of all mankind.' The former say, 'The same death in 
sin and corrupted nature are conveyed, ' — the latter, ' the guilt 
of the first sin was imputed, and the corrupted nature con- 
veyed to all their posterity.' The chapters on the church are 
not in entire agreement. The Westminister defines the visible 
church as 'consisting of all those throughout the world that 
profess the true religion, together with their children.' The 
children of believers are not included in the Savoy definition, 
though they are to be baptized. In the former, 'the ministry, 



THE CONFESSIONS OF 1648 AND 1680 127 

oracles, and ordinances of God' are given to the catholic 
church as an identical organism, with no restrictions to the 
churclies, in respect to government. By the latter the church 
can not be 'intrusted with the administration of any ordi- 
nances, or have any officers to rule or govern in or over the 
ivJiole body.' The one cuts up the old root of the Papacy, 
Prelacy, and all hierarchies. The other leaves it to shoot up 
in Presbyteries, Synods, and the government of a General 
Assembly. 

" These are the chief differences in the doctrinal positions 
of these two symbols. 

"The Congregational Churches of England had now their 
Confession and the Presbyterians had theirs. But the church- 
es of New England were in the use of the Presbyterian, and 
not the Congregational, as their standard. Thus they stood 
for thirty years. At the Synod of 1662, nothing was proposed 
relating to a Declaration of Faith, and little was done, except 
to 1 plant the seeds of the disastrous half-way covenant. Eigh- 
teen years later, when the Synod of 1679 came to its second 
session in May, 1680, a Confession was the chief business. Here 
the same questions met the Provincial Synod and the National 
Council. Two Confessions were before them, — one Presby- 
terian, the other Congregational. Should they make a new 
one ? And if so, should it be a long or a short one ? — according 
to the recent speculations in philosophy, or without any 
specific philosophy? Or if they should adopt one of the old 
symbols, which? or, should they reaffirm them both? The 
Fathers of 1648 had declared the Westminster Confession 
'very holy, orthodox, and judicious.' But those of 1680 took 
up the Savoy Declaration, and examined it very carefully. It 
was twice publicly read in the synod. Some slight changes 
were made, such as restoring the list of the books of the Bible, 
and including the children of believers in the definition of the 
church. Then it was adopted by the synod, the General Court 
of Massachusetts, and the churches of the New England col- 



128 



CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 



onies generally. Thus the Congregational churches of Eng- 
land and of New England not only held the same faith, but 
also the same 'Declaration of Faith.' " 



(3) THE SAYBROOK PLATFORM OF 1708 

A low state of religion prevailed in New England at the 
end of the seventeenth century. Of the condition prevalent, 
Prof. Walker has written : 

THE PROPOSALS OF 1705 

* ' Though the Reforming Synod doubtless has some effect 
in bettering the religious condition of New England, the re- 
sults were not what its promoters had hoped. The closing 
years of the seventeenth century were times of trial for New 
England ; the loss of the Massachusetts charter, the tyranny of 
Andros, the vain efforts to secure a renewal of the ancient 
privileges of the leading colony, as well as the disastrous out- 
come of the two attempts to capture Quebec, and the demoraliz- 
ing struggles with the Indians, together with the grim tragedy 
of the witchcraft delusion, all combined to make the political 
and commercial outlook of the colonies gloomy and to render 
a high degree Of spiritual life difficult of maintenance in the 
churches. If the second generation on New England soil had 
shown a decided declension from the fervent zeal of the found- 
ers, the third generation was even less moved by the early 
ideals. The founders had borne part in a movement which 
had embraced a nation. They had been the leaders in an at- 
tempt to establish in a new England the principles of worship 
and church-government which were believed in and struggled 
for by a great party at home. For a time, the rulers of Eng- 
land had looked with favor on their enterprise and had sought 
council of their experience. But all this was changed. New 
England was no longer the vanguard of the great Puritan cause 
of the mother-land. That party in England had spent its force. 



THE CONFESSIONS OF 1648 AND 1680 129 

New England had become of necessity provincial, when the 
triumph of Episcopacy in old England had made her cease 
to be a factor of consequence in the religious life of that land, 
for the bond between the home land and the new settlements 
across the sea had been religious far more than political or 
commercial. And in the struggles and disasters of the latter 
half of the seventeenth century the New Englander had be- 
come narrower in thought and in sympathy than his father 
had been. If he had grown more tolerant toward variations 
in religion, it was the result of increasing religious indifferent- 
ism, itself the natural consequence of reaction from the high- 
Wrought experiences of the first generation. It was with 
pathetic, almost exaggerated, consciousness of their own com- 
parative feebleness that the ecclesiastical writers of the second 
and third generations looked back to the giants of the early 
days ; for the New England of 1700 was meaner, narrower, in 
every way less inspired with the sense of a mission to accom- 
plish and an ideal to uphold, than the New England of 1650. 

"To the majority of the ministers of the time the outlook 
seemed full of peri]. The recent political changes, and even 
more the passing away of the older generation, had greatly 
lessened the influence of the ministry on legislation and the 
conduct of government. The restiveness which had all along 
been more or less felt under the rule of the clerical element 
had gathered strength. In Boston foreign influence had es- 
tablished Episcopacy, and though Episcopacy was distinctly 
an exotic on Massachusetts soil, there were an increasing num- 
ber of persons throughout the churches who desired more or 
less modification of the prevalent strictness in regard to ad- 
missions and of the almost universal restriction of the choice 
of ministers to members in full communion. These two ten- 
dencies were brought most sharply into contrast at Boston, 
then, as now, the intellectual center of the commonwealth. 

"While the events just considered were in progress in 
Massachusetts, a similiar movement, to some extent induced 



130 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

by the proceedings in the older colony, was in progress in 
Connecticut. The Half- Way controversy had resulted in 1669 
in the toleration of some divergence in ecclesiastical usage 
'vntill better light in an orderly way doth appeare;' but the 
same differences of opinion which had been shown in the ques- 
tions propounded by the General Court in 1666 continued, and 
the low state of religion which marked the closing years of the 
seventeenth century led to much discipline and not a little 
quarrel in the churches. The feeling, was widespread through- 
out the colony, and the adjacent parts of Massachusetts, that 
some strengthening of church-government was desirable, for 
the same reasons that it was sought in the vicinity of Boston. 
"The movement which led to the Saybrook Synod in 
Connecticul ran parallel to and was in considerable degree 
conducted by men who were engaged in founding Yale College, 
and these men were in turn affiliated in some measure with 
those in eastern Massachusetts who were seeking a stricter 
church government. The connection between the founding of 
Yale College and the party about Boston who were opposed to 
the liberalizing of Harvard and the rejection of the influence 
of the Mathers has been pressed too far by President Quincy, 
and it has been clearly shown that the desire of the ministers 
of Connecticut, long cherished especially in the coast towns of 
the old New Haven colony, that they might have ' a nearer and 
less expensive seat of learning, ' amply accounts for the estab- 
lishment of the Connecticut college. It had its birth indepen- 
dently of Boston ecclesiastical quarrels. But while thus moved 
by Connecticut rather than Massachusetts interests, the men 
who founded Yale College in 1701 were in active sympathy 
with the conservative party in Boston. . . . 

"The attempts of the ecclesiastical leaders of Massachusetts 
to establish standing councils had borne fruit in 1705 and 
1706, and cannot have been unfamiliar to their friends in' 
Connecticut, The thought of the ministers of Connecticut 
turned toward something more than the approval of a con- 



THE CONFESSIONS OF 1648 AND 1G80 131 

fession of faith, they would now couple with it the establish- 
ment of a system of stricter government like that attempted in 
Massachusetts. And, in December, 1707, an event well-nigh 
without a parallel in American history occurred; a leading 
minister of the colony, Gurdon Saltonstall of New London, 
was called directly from the pulpit to the governor's chair, — 
a post which he continued to fill till his death in 1724. Sal- 
tonstall had experienced in his own pastorate the evils of a 
church quarrel, and on his election to the governorship it 
would appear that the movement for stricter government went 
more rapidly forward. Sometime between May 13 and 22, 
1708, the following bill was introduced into and passed the 
upper House, of which the governor was then a member. In 
its original form it called, apparently, only for assemblages of 
ministers; but somewhere in its passage, either in the upper 
House, or more probably among the representatives of the 
towns who passed it on May 24th, the statute was amended 
so as to summon the brethren of the churches as well as their 
pastors, and thus render the bodies for which it called truly 
synods : 

This Assembly, from their own observation and from the com- 
plaint of many others, being made sensible of the defects of the 
discipline of the churches of this government, arising from the 
want of a more explicite asserting the rules given for that end in 
the holy scriptures, from which would arise a firm establishment 
amongst ourselves, a good and regular issue in cases subject to 
ecclesiastical discipline, glory to Christ our head, and edification 
to his members, hath seen fit to ordein and require, and it is by 
authoritie of the same ordeined and required, that the ministers 
of the churches in the several counties of this government shall 
meet together at their respective countie towns, with such messen- 
gers as the churches to which they belong shall see cause to send 
with them on the last Monday in June next, there to consider and 
agree upon those methods and rules for the management of ecclesas- 
tical discipline which by them shall be judged agreeable and com- 
formable to the word of God, and shall at the same meeting appoint 
two or more of their number to be their delegates, who shall all meet 
together at Saybrook, at the next Commencement to be held there, 
when they shall compare the results of the ministers of the several 
counties, and out of and from them to draw a form of ecclesiastical 
discipline which by two or more persons delegated by them shall 



132 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

be offered to this Court at their sessions at New haven in October 
next, to be considered of and confirmed by them, and that the ex- 
pence of the above, mentioned meetings be defrayed out of the pub- 
lick treasury of this Colonic 

"Pursuant to this order, the representatives of the 
churches of each county met, though no records of their doings 
have survived. By these councils, ministers and delegates 
were chosen to be present at the anniversary of the infant 
college, and naturally convenience, together with the promi- 
nence of the men involved, brought it about that eight of the 
twelve ministers thus selected to represent the Connecticut 
churches were trustees of the college. The ministerial element 
was in the decided predominance. The messengers from New 
London County to the Saybrook Synod were two, while Hart- 
ford and Fairfield Counties sent one each, and New Haven 
was represented by no laymen. Doubtless other brethren were 
appointed who did not appear at the meeting. But there is 
no reason to hold that the body which gathered at Saybrook 
Sept. 9, 1708, was not fairly able to voice the sentiments of the 
Connecticut churches as a whole." — Creeds and Platforms, 
465-500, passim. 

This Synod, assembled for consideration of practical 
questions of reform, and the conservation of the spiritual her- 
itage of the Colony, approved the confessions of Westminster 
and Savoy, as the Massachusetts synods had done, but pre- 
faced this finding with a notable deliverance concerning, 
among other things, the authority of human creeds. It is 
contained, together with the text of the Savoy Declaration, in 
Walker's Creeds and Platforms, pp. 517 seq: 

A confession of faith owned and consented to by the elders and 
messengers of the churches in the colony of Connecticut in New- 
England, assembled by delegation at Say-Brook, September 9th, 
1708 — Eph. 4: 5. One faith — Col. 2: 5. Joying and beholding your 
Order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. — New-London 
in N. E. Printed by Thomas Short, 1710. 



THE CONFESSIONS OF 1648 AND 1680 1S3 

A PREFACE 

Among the Memorable Providences relating to our English 
Nation in the last Century, must be acknowledged the selling of 
English Colonies in the American parts of the World; Among all 
which this hath been Peculiar unto and to the distinguishing Glory 
of that Tract called New-England, that the Colonies there were 
Originally formed, not for the advantage of Trade and a Worldly 
Interest: But upon the most noble Foundation, even of Religion, 
and the Liberty of their Consciences, with respect unto the Ordi- 
nances of the Gospel Administred in the Purity and Power of them; 
an happiness then not to be enjoyed in their Native Soil. 

We joyfully Congratulate the Religious Liberty of our Brethren 
in the late Auspicious Reign of K. William, and Q. Mary, of Blessed 
Memory, & in the present Glorious Reign, and from the bottom of 
our Hearts bless the Lord whosei Prerogative it is to reserve the 
Times and Seasons in his own hand, who also hath Inspired the 
Pious Mind of Her most Sacred Majesty, [Queen Anne] whose Reign 
we constantly and unfeignedly Pray, may be long and Glorious, with 
Royal Resolutions, Inviolably to maintain the Toleration. 

Deus enim - - haec Otia fecit. 

Undoubtedly if the same had been the Liberty of those Times, 
our Fathers would have been far from Exchanging a most pleasant 
Land (dulce solum patrise) for a vast and howling Wilderness; 
Since for the enjoyment of so desirable Liberty a considerable num- 
ber of Learned, Worthy and Pious Persons were by a Divine Im- 
pulse and Extraordinary concurrence of Dispositions engaged to 
adventure their Lives Families and Estates upon the vast Qcean 
following the Lord into a Wilderness, a Land then not sown: 
Wherein Innumerable difficulties staring them in the Face were out- 
bid by Heroick Resolution, Magnanimity & confidence in the Lord 
alone. Our Fathers trusted in the Lord and were delivered, they 
trusted in him and were not confounded. It was their care to be 
with the Lord, and their indulgence, that the Lord was with them, to 
a Wonder preserving supporting protecting and animating them ; dis- 
patching and destroying the Pagan Natives by extraordinary Sick- 
ness and Mortality ,that there might be room for his People to 
serve the Lord our God in. It was the Glory of our Fathers, that 
they heartily professed the only Rule of their Religion from the 
very first to be the Holy Scripture, according whereunto, so far as 
they were perswaded upon diligent Inquiry, Solicitous search, and 
faithful Prayer conformed was their Faith, their Worship together 
with the whole Administration of the House of Christ, and their 
manners, allowance being given to humane Failures and Imper- 
fections. 

That which they were most Solicitous about, and wherein their 
Liberty had been restrained, respected the Worship of God and the 
Government of the Church of Christ according to his own appoint- 
ment, their Faith and Profession of Religion being the same, which 
was generally received in all the Reformed Churches of Europe, 
and in Substance the Assemblies Confession, as shall be shown anon. 



134 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

It cannot be denied, that the Usage of the Christian Church 
whose Faith wholly rested upon the word of God respecting Con- 
fessions of Faith is very Ancient and that which is universally 
acknowledged to be most so, and of Universal acceptance and con- 
sent is commonly called the Apostles Creed, a Symbol sign or 
Badge of the Christian Religion, called the Apostles, not because 
they composed it, for then it must have been received into the 
Canon of the Holy Bible, but because the matter of it agreeth 
with the Doctrine & is taken out of the Writings of the Apos- 
tles. Consequent hereunto, as the necessity of the Church for 
the Correcting Condemning & Suppressing of Heresy & Error 
required, have been emitted Ancient and Famous Confessions 
of Faith composed and agreed upon by Oecumenical Coun- 
cils, e. g. Of Nice against Arrius, of Constantinople against 
Macedonius, of Ephesu against Nestorius, of Chalcedon against 
Eutyches. And when the Light of Reformation broke forth to the 
dispersing of Popish darkness, the Reformed Nations agreed upon 
Confessions of Faith, famous in the World and of especial service 
to theirs and standing Ages. And among those of latter times Pub- 
lished in our Nation most worthy of Repute and Acceptance we take 
to be the Confession of Faith, Composed by the Reverend Assembly 
of Divines Convened at Westminister, with that of the Savoy, in 
the substance and in expressions for the most part the. same: the 
former professedly assented & attested to, by the Fathers of 
our Country by Unanimous Vote of the Synod of Elders and Mes- 
sengers of the Churches met at Cambridge the last of the 6th Month 
1648. The latter owned and consented to by the Elders and Mes- 
sengers of the Churches Assembled at Boston, May 12th, 1680. The 
same we doubt not to profess to have been the contant Faith of the 
Churches in this Colony from the first Foundation of them. And 
that it may appear to the Christian World, that our Churches do 
not maintain differing Opinions in the Doctrine of Religion, nor 
are desirous of any reason to conceal the Faith we are perswaded 
of: The Elders and Messengers of the Churches in this Colony of 
Connecticut in New England, by vertue of the Appointment and 
Encouragement of the Honourable the General Assembly, Convened 
by Delegation at Say Brook, Sept. 9th, 1708. Unanimously agreed, 
that the Confession of Faith owned and Consented unto by the Elders 
and Messengers of the Churches Assembled at Boston in New- 
England May 12th. 1680. Being the second Session of that Synod, 
be Recommended to the Honourable the General Assembly of this 
Colony at their next Session, for their Publick Testimony thereto, 
as the Faith of the Churches of this Colony, which Confession to- 
gether with the Heads of Union and Articles for the Administration 
of Church Government herewith emitted were Presented unto and 
approved and established by the said General Assembly at New- 
Haven on the 14th of October 1708. 

This Confession of Faith we offer as our firm Perswasion well 
and fully grounded upon the Holy Scripture, and Commend the 
same unto all and particularly to the people of our Colony to be 
examined accepted and constantly maintained. We do not assume 



THE CONFESSIONS OP 1648 AND 1680 135 

to ourselves, that any thing be taken upon trust from us, but com- 
mend to our people these following Counsels. 

I. That You be immovably and unchangeably agreed in the 
only sufficient, and invariable Rule of Religion, which is the Holy 
Scripture the fixed Canon, uncapable of addition or diminution. You 
ought to account nothing ancient, that will not stand by this Rule, 
nor any thing new that will. Do not hold your selves bound to 
Unscriptural Rites *in Religion, wherein Custom itself doth many 
times misguid. Believe it to be the honour of Religion to resign 
and captivate our Wisdom and Faith to Divine Revelation. 

II. That You be determined by this Rule in the whole of Re- 
ligion. That Your Faith be right and Divine, the Word of God 
must be the foundation of it, and the Authority of the Word the 
reason of it. You may believe the most Important Articles of Faith, 
with no more than an Humane Faith; And this is evermore the 
cause, when the, Principle Faith is resolved into, is any other than 
the holy Scripture. For an Orthodox Christian to resolve his Faith, 
into Education Instruction and the perswasion of others is not an 
higher reason, than a Papist, Mohametan, or Pagan can produce for 
his Religion. 

Pay also unto God the Worship, that will bear the Tryal of and 
receive Establishment by this Rule. Have always in Readiness a 
Divine Warrant for all the Worship you Perform to God. Believe 
that Worship is accepted and that only, which is directed unto, and 
Commanded, and hath the promise of a Blessing from the Word of 
God. Believe that Worship not Divinely Commanded is in vain, nor 
will answer the Necessities and Expectations of a Christian, and 
is a Worshipping, you know not what. Believe in all Divine Wor- 
ship, it is not enough that this or that Act of Worship is not for- 
bidden in the Word of God; If it be not Commanded, and you per- 
form it, You may fear, You will be found Guilty and exposed to 
Divine Displeasure. Nadab and Abihu paid dear for Offering in 
Divine Worship that which the Lord Commanded them not. It is an 
honour done unto Christ, when you account that only Decent Order- 
ly and Convenient in his House, which depends upon the Institution 
and appointment of himself, who is the only Head and Law-giver of 
his Church. 

III. That you be well grounded in the, firm Truths of Religion. 
We have willingly taken pains to add the Holy Scriptures, whereon 
every point of Faith contained in this Confession doth depend, and 
is born up by, and commend the same to your diligent perusal, that 
You be established in the truth and your Faith rest upon its proper 
Basis, the Word of God. Follow the Example of the Noble Bereans, 
Search the Scriptures, Grow in Grace and the knowledge of Christ, 
be not Children in Understanding, but Men. Labour for a sound 
confirmed Knowledge of these Points in the evidence of them. See 
that they be deeply rooted in your Minds and Hearts, that so You 
be not an easie prey to such as lie in wait to deceive. For the 
want hereof to be condoled is the Unhappiness of many ever learn- 
ing and never coming to the knowledge of, the Truth. 

IV. That having applyed the Rule of Holy Scripture to all the 
Articles of this Confession, and found the same upon Tryal the 



136 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Unchangable and Eternal truths of God: You remember and hold 
them fact [fast], Contend earnestly for them as the, Faith once 
delivered to the Saints. Value them as Your great Charter, the 
Instrument of Your Salvation, the. Evidence of your not failing of 
the Grace of God, and receiving a Crown that fadeth not away. 
Maintain them, and every of them all your dayes with undanted 
Resolution against all opposition, whatever the, event be, and the 
same transmit safe and pure to Posterity: Having bought the 
Truth, on no hand sell it. Believe the Truth will make you free: 
Faithful is he that hath promised: So shall none take away your 
Crown. 

Finally, Do not think it enough that your Faith and Order be 
according to the, Word of God, but live accordingly. It is not enough 
to believe well, You run your selves into the greatest hazzard unless 
you be careful to live well, and that this be, All your Life and 
Conversation must be agreeable to the Rule of Gods Word. This 
is the Rule of a Christian Conversation and Practical Reformation 
Rest not in the form of Godliness, denying the power of it. Stir 
up an holy Zeal, Strengthen the, things that remain that are ready 
to die, Be not carried away with the Corruptions Temptations and 
evil Examples of the Times, but be, blameless & without Rebuke, 
the Sons of God in a froward Generation. They shall walk with 
me in white, for they are worthy. 

Remember ye our Brethren in this Colony; That we are a part 
of that Body, for which the Providence of God hath wrought Won- 
ders and are obliged by and Accountable for all the Mercies dis- 
pensed from the beginning of our Fathers settling this Country 
until now. There he spake with us, That the practical piety and 
serious Religion of our progenitors is exemplary and for our Imita- 
tion, and will, reflect confounding shame on us, if we prove Degen- 
erate. The Lord grant that the noble design of our Fathers in 
coming to this Land, may not be forgotten by us, nor by our Children 
after us, even the Interest of Religion, which we can never Exchange 
for a Temporal Interest without the Fowlest Degeneracy and most 
Inexcusable Defection. To Conclude the Solemn Rebukes of Provi- 
dence from time to time in a series of Judgments, and in particular, 
the General drought in the Summer past, together with the grevious 
Disappointment of our Military Undertaking, the Distresses Sick- 
ness and Mortality of our Camp cannot successfully be Improved 
but by a self humbling Consideration of our Ways and a thorough 
Repentance of all that is amiss: So will the God of our Fathers 
be our God, and he will be a Wall of Fire round about us and the 
Glory in the midst of us in this present and all succeeding Genera- 
tions. AMEN. 

It was nearly two centuries before the Congregational 
Churches met again in National Council after the Reforming 
Synod, and during that time, the Confessions of 1648 and 1680 
served as exponents of Congregational doctrine "for the sub- 



THE CONFESSIONS OF 1648 AND 1680 137 

stance thereof." The important things to be remembered 
about them are, 

1. That the Synods which adopted them came together to 
consider matters o^ polity and discipline, and that the ques- 
tions of doctrine which grew out of them were subordinate 
and incidental. 

2. That in each case they began with some thought of 
producing an original creed, and in each case ended, and with- 
out much discussion, in the adoption of one ready made. 

3. That the Westminster and Savoy declarations were 
virtually identical as to doctrine. 

4. That they were approved not for form but as to sub- 
stance, "allowance being given to human failures and imper- 
fections. ' ' 

During this period, few of the local churches had creeds ; 
their covenants sufficed. 

Virtually, therefore, until 1865, the Congregational 
Churches of the United States got on very well without any 
home-made creed which could establish claim to national ac- 
ceptance. All this time, however, they were developing a pol- 
ity of their own. Yet their willingness to make new declara- 
tions of polity and their unwillingness to make new declara- 
tions of faith, did not grow out of any disregard of doctrine 
as contrasted with government; they counted doctrine the 
more important. But they regarded their doctrine as essen- 
tially one with that of other Christian bodies, and especially 
one with the great Puritan communions, Congregational and 
Presbyterian, in Great Britain, and wherein they differed they 
could easily stretch a covering for the difference in the elastic 
phrase ' ' for substance of doctrine. ' ' 

They wrote with considerable facility confessions for 
local use, though seldom or never imposing them as tests for 
church membership ; but they shrank from the apparently 
needless and somewhat hazardous task of making creeds which 
the whole denomination might be supposed in some measure to 



138 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

endorse. Down to 1865 it was enough to refer to the confes- 
sions of 1648 and 1680 as containing the essential- faith held by 
Congregationalists ' ' for the substance thereof. ' ' Less and less 
did those confessions represent in their formal statement the 
living faith of the Congregational churches. Fewer and fewer 
Congregationalists remembered what were the Confessions of 
1648 and 1680, but the figures sounded well, and served their 
purpose. The time was coming when the Congregational 
churches would have need of some other formal. statement of 
their faith than that contained in the Westminster Confession 
and the Declaration of Savoy, even though it still was, and for 
that matter yet is, possible for a Congregationalist to assent 
to them, and to any other orthodox creed, for the substance of 
the doctrine which they embody. 

Did any Cromwellian accuse the New England brethren 
of having separated themselves from the faith and fortunes 
of their Independent brethren in England? The ready 
answer was their cheerful acceptance of the Savoy Declara- 
tion "for the substance thereof." Did any Scotch or English 
Presbyterian declare that Puritanism in New England was 
schismatic and had departed from the faith of the English 
Puritans? The New England brethren had no hesitation in 
saying that they accepted for substance of doctrine the West- 
minister Confession, and they were heartily glad to say it, 
to sing a hymn, and adjourn. Nay, they went farther. If 
a member of the Church of England called them harsh names 
for their departure from the historic Church, they were quite 
ready to affirm their general approval of the Articles of Faith 
of the Church of England. 

It is to be noted that neither the Confession of 1648 nor 
that of 1680 was intended to be used as a test of fitness for 
church membership. No Congregational church, so far as 
known, ever so employed either of these creeds ; nor was there 
a spirit which would have sought so to jemploy a confession of 



THE CONFESSIONS OP 1648 AND 1680 139 

faith until about the time of the outbreak of the Unitarian 
controversy. 

One reason the early Congregationalists were averse to 
the making of creeds was that they did not consider themselves 
a sect. They knew that they were not the whole of the Church 
of Christ, but they endeavored to organize their own churches 
without cutting themselves off in a spirit of isolation from 
other branches of the church of Christ. It is true that in 
those periods of bitter controversy some Separatist congre- 
gations withdrew from the Church of England with bitter de- 
nunciations. Cotton Mather refers to this and contrasts with 
it the tearful departure of the Puritan colony, who sailed for 
Salem in 1629. Notwithstanding their bitter sufferings and 
cruel persecutions, they loved the Church of England. Mather 
relates that when the Abigail, in June 1628, was sailing for 
Salem, Mr. Higginson called his children and other passengers 
to the stern of the ship to take their last sight of England, 
and said, 'We will not say, as the Separatists were wont to 
say at their leaving of England, Farewell, Babylon ! farewell, 
Rome ! but we will say, Farewell, dear England, farewell, the 
church of God in England and all the Christian friends there. 
We do not go to New England as Separatists from the Church 
of England, though we cannot but separate from the corrup- 
tions in it ; but we go to practice the positive part of church 
reformation, and propagate the Gospel in America.' : 
Whether or not the incident occurred as narrated, there is no 
doubt that it expresses the sincere sentiment of the Puritan 
colonists, towards the National Church which with all its 
faults they loved. 

To this same principle the Pilgrims, though Separatists, 
were committed. Dr. Bacon truly said : 

' ' There was one principle to which the church of Plymouth 
stood committed by all its antecedents, to wit, that a Christian 
church is necessarily a church of Christians, withdrawn from 
fellowship with the openly unbelieving and ungodly and unit- 



140 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

ed to each other by a covenant, express or implied, of common 
duty and mutual faithfulness. Yet even this principle, by 
which they had justified their withdrawal from the ''mixed 
multitude' of the English parish churches to the conventicle 
at Scrooby manor-house, was held by the Plymouth exiles in 
no such bitter and exasperated spirit as had been manifested 
by some of the Separatists, but in a spirit of patience, respect 
and loving fellowship, even under extreme provocation, 
towards English fellow- Christians who held both their princi- 
ple and their action in the severest reprobation. The latest 
words of saintly John Robinson, "found in his study after 
his decease," were counsels of peace towards the unseparated 
brethren in the national church of England. In this touching 
farewell to his departing flock, he spoke in the spirit of propn- 
ecy of a time when unseparated Puritan ministers of the 
Church of England should 'come to the practice of the ordi- 
nances out of the kingdom ' and out of the reach of the Act of 
Uniformity and the bishops' courts, and predicted that when 
this should be, 'there will be no difference between them and 
you.' — Congregationals, 28, 29. 

Of the church in Salem, Dr. Bacon wrote : 

"It was far from the thoughts of the Salem colonists to 
found a sect. However mistaken they might be as to the 
criteria of Christian character, they had no intention of ex- 
cluding from their fellowship any true disciple of Jesus Christ. 
As little did they intend to permit any, in the spirit of Sepa- 
ratism, to cut themselves off from the common fellowship and 
organize themselves into a scismatic conventicle. ' ' — p. 41. 

Referring to subsequent events that led to the call of the 
Cambridge Synod of 1646-8, he said, — 

"The colonies had to face the fact that already in 1643 a 
painfully large proportion of the people were standing out- 
side of the church. In Massachusetts, where the suffrage was 
conditioned on church membership, the active citizenship was 
reduced to an oligarchy of about one in ten. It was not only 



THE CONFESSIONS OP 1648 AND 1680 141 

felt as a grievance to be thus shut out from the body politic ; 
but some were sincerely complaining of the spiritual privation 
of being excluded, themselves and their families, from the 
sacraments; on the other hand, the churches themselves felt 
weakened by the exclusion of many who could hardly be pro- 
nounced less fit for church fellowship than those who were 
within the pale. 

"And yet it does not appear that there was any intent 
on the part of the Founders to draw lines excluding from the 
church any sincere disciple of Jesus Christ. The idea of 
establishing sectarian churches for a certain style of Christian 
from which other sorts of Christians should be excluded be- 
longs to a later age, and would have been abhorrent to the 
first generation. They sincerely meant that all the faithful 
Christians of each town should be the church of that town, 
exercising all the functions of a church free of interference 
from without; but in seeking this worthy object they fell into 
two grave mistakes. 1. In their righteous reaction from the 
miserable corruption of the English parish churches they went 
to the opposite extreme, not only putting out the demonstrably 
unworthy, but keeping out those whose worthiness was not 
satisfactorily demonstrated. ' ' 

Very unwillingly did the early Puritans take any steps 
which made the relation of their churches sectarian; and this 
was one reason for their aversion to the making of creeds. 

The faith of these early Congregationalisms they regarded 
themselves as holding in common with the Reformed churches 
of the whole world. Their polity was their own. They might 
readily have said, 

1 ' Let us write the Polity of the Congregational Churches, 
and we care not who shall write their Creeds." 



IV. THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 

The Michigan City Convention of 1846 and the Albany 
Convention of 1852 mark the renaissance of Congregational- 
ism. The former expressed the new life of the west, and the 
latter was the first national Congregational gathering held 
outside of New England. The divergent polities of Massa- 
chusetts, with its more rigid independency, and Connecticut 
with its consociation system which had lent itself to the Plan 
of Union, flowed together with fresh tributaries from the 
west and northwest into a river like that of the Garden of 
Eden, and the confluent stream was that of a new and truly 
nationalized Congregationalism. The abandonment of the 
Plan of Union marked the rise of a new denominational con- 
sciousness, and gave to the west a new place in the Councils 
of the denomination. The approach of the close of the Civil 
War indicated the rise of new home missionary prospects and 
problems, and a new opportunity to make the denomination 
a national power. 

The Convention of the Congregational Churches of the 
northwest, whose chief function is the election of directors 
of Chicago Theological Seminary, was in session in Chicago 
on April 27, 1864, when Rev. Truman M. Post, a delegate 
from St. Louis, introduced a resolution that in view of the 
results of the war "the crisis demands general consultation, 
co-operation, and concert among our churches, and to these 
ends, requires extensive correspondence among ecclesiastical 
associations, or the assembling of a National Congregational 
Convention." The Illinois General Association, in session at 
Quincy, May 27, 1864, took official action, inviting other state 
bodies to unite in promoting ' ' a National Convention. ' ' Dur- 

142 



THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 143 

ing that summer and autumn the state organizations of Indi- 
anna, Michigan, Iowa, Ohio, Rhode Island, Maine, Connecticut, 
Vermont, Masaschusetts, New York, and Minnesota ratified 
the plan hi the order named. On November 16, 1864, the joint 
committee representing the state bodies met in Broadway 
Tabernacle, New York, and arranged for the call of "a Na- 
tional Council to be assembled in Boston on the second 
Wednesday of June, 1865. A committee of three was appoint- 
ed to report to the Council "a statement of Congregational 
church polity," the committee consisting of Rev. Messers. 
Leonard Bacon, A. H. Quint, and H. M. Storrs. Another 
committee was appointed to consider "the expediency of set- 
ting forth a declaration of faith, as held in common by the 
Congregational churches." This committee consisted of Rev. 
Dr. J. P. Thompson, Prof. G. P. Fisher, and Prof. E. A. 
Lawrence. 

The National Council of 1865 was in every respect a 
notable gathering, and it is the only one of our great national 
assemblies of whose discussions we have a stenographic report. 
The body convened in the Old South of June 14, and two 
days later the Committee on Confession made its report. They 
stated that "they could not regard it as their function to 
prepare a confession of faith to be imposed by act of this 
or any other body upon the churches of the Congregational 
order." They quoted from the Saybrook platform regarding 
the Scriptures as the only rule of religion, and stated that 
while the faith of the Congregational churches was essentially 
Calvinistic, and hence in general accord with the confessions 
of Westminister and Savoy, there existed what Cotton Mather 
happily called "variety in unity," which the committee did 
not wish to disturb by a formulation of doctrines ; but rather 
deemed it better to characterize in a comprehensive way the 
faith of the churches "for the substance thereof" in the an- 
cient confessions of 1648 and 1680. They did, however, sub- 
mit a certain recital of Congregational principles, and closed 



144 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

with a statement which rather closely approximated a con- 
fession of faith, though carefully avoiding the form of such 
confession. 

FIRST REPORT ON DECLARATION OF FAITH 

The committee appointed by the preliminary conference to pre- 
pare a Declaration of Faith to be submitted to the Council, re- 
spectfully report: 

That, in the light of the discussions of that conference upon the 
expediency of such a Declaration, and also of the general principles 
of our polity, they could not regard it as their function to prepare 
a Confession of Faith to be imposed by act of this, or of any other 
body, upon the churches of the Congregational order. "It was the 
glory of our fathers, that they heartily professed the only rule of 
their religion, from the very first, to be the Holy Scriptures;" and 
particular churches have always exercised their liberty in "confes- 
sions drawn up in their own forms." And such has been the accord 
of these particular confessions, one with another, and with the 
Scriptures, that we may to-day repeat, with thankfulness, the words 
of the fathers of the Savoy Confession, two centuries ago: while, 
"from the first, every, or at least the generality, of our churches 
have been, in a manner, like so many ships — though holding forth 
the same general colors — launched singly, and sailing apart and 
alone in the vast ocean of these tumultuous times, and have been 
exposed to 'every wind of doctrine,' under no other conduct than the 
Word and Spirit," .... yet "let all acknowledge that God hath 
ordered it for his high and greater glory, in that his singular care 
and power should have so watched over each of these, as that all 
should be found to have steered their course by the same Chart, and 
to have been bound for one and the same Port; and that the same 
holy and blessed Truths of all sorts, which are current and warrant- 
able amongst all the other churches of Christ in the world, are 
found to be our Lading." 

Whatever the diversities of metaphysical theology apparent in 
these various Confessions, they yet, with singular unanimity, iden- 
tify the faith of the Congregational churches with the body of Chris- 
tian doctrine known as Calvinistic; and hence such Confessions as 
that of the Westminster divines, and that of the Savoy Synod, have 
been accredited among these churches as general symbols of faith. 

It has not appeared to the committee expedient to recommend 
that this Council should disturb this "variety in unity" — as Cotton 
Mather happily describes it — by an attempted uniformity of state- 
ment in a Confession formulating each doctrine in more recent 
terms of metaphysical theology. It seemed better to characterize in 
a comprehensive way the doctrines held in common by our churches, 
than thus to individualize each in a theological formula. The latter 
course might rather disturb the unity that now exists amid variety. 
Moreover, little could be gained in this respect beyond what we al- 
ready possess in the ancient formulas referred to, which, being 



THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 145 

interpreted in the spirit in which they were conceived, answer the 
end of a substantial unity in doctrine, and have withal the savor 
of antiquity and the proof of use. 

In the language of the Preface, to the Savoy Declaration, a Con- 
fession is "to be looked upon but as a meet or fit medium or means 
whereby to express a common faith and salvation, and no way to 
be made, use of as an imposition upon any. Whatever is of force or 
constraint in matters of this nature, causes them to degenerate from 
the name and nature of Confessions, and turns them from being 
Confessions of Faith into exactions and impositions of Faith!" Yet 
a common Confession serves the important purpose — the "neglect" 
of which the Savoy fathers sought to remedy — of making manifest 
our unity in doctrine, and of "holding out common lights to others 
whereby to know where we are." 

With these views, as the result of prolonged and careful delib- 
eration, the committee unanimously recommend that the Council 
should declare, by reference to historical and venerable symbols, the 
faith as it has been maintained among the Congregational churches 
from the beginning; and also that it should set forth a testimony on 
behalf of these churches, for the Word of Truth now assailed by 
multiform and dangerous errors; and for this end, they respectfully 
submit the following 

Recital and Declaration. 

When the churches of New England assembled in a general 
Synod at Cambridge in 1648, they declared their assent, "for the 
substance thereof" to the Westminster Confession of Faith. 
When again these churches convened in a general Synod at 
Boston, in 1680, they declared their approval (with slight ver- 
bal alterations) of the doctrinal symbol adopted by a Synod of 
the Congregational churches in England, at London, in 1658, and 
known as the "Savoy Confession," which in doctrine is almost 
identical with that of the Westminster Assembly. And yet again, 
when the churches in Connecticut met in council at Saybrook in 
1708, they "owned and consented to" the Savoy Confession as 
adopted at Boston, and offered this as a public symbol of their faith. 

Thus, from the beginning of their history, the Congregational 
churches in the United States have, been allied in doctrine with the 
Reformed churches of Europe, and especially of Great Britain. The 
eighth article of the "Heads of Agreement," established by the Con- 
gregational and Presbyterian ministers in England in 1692, and 
adopted at Saybrook in 1708, defines this position in these words: 
"As to what appertains to soundness of judgment in matters of 
faith, we esteem it sufficient that a church acknowledge the Scrip- 
tures to be the Word of God, the perfect and only rule of faith and 
practice, and own either the doctrinal part of those commonly called 
the Articles of the Church of England, or the Confession or Cate r 
chisms, shorter or larger, compiled by the Assembly at Westmin- 
ster, or the Confession agreed on at the Savoy, to be agreeable to 
the said rule." 



146 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

And now, when, after the lapse of two centuries, these churches 
are again convened in a General Council at their primitive and 
historical home, it is enough for the first of those ends enumerated 
by the Synod at Cambridge, — to wit, "the maintenance of the faith 
entire within itself" — that this Council, referring to these ancient 
symbols as embodying, for substance of doctrine, the constant faith 
of the churches here represented, declares its adherence to the same, 
as being "well and fully grounded upon the Holy Scriptures," which 
is "the only sufficient and invariable rule of religion." 

But having in view, also, the second end of a public confession 
enumerated by the Cambridge Synod, to wit, "the holding forth of 
unity and harmony both amongst and with other churches," we de- 
sire to promote a closer fellowship of all Christian denominations in 
the faith and work of the gospel, especially against popular and 
destructive forms of unbelief which assail the foundations of all 
religion, both natural and revealed ; which know no God but nature ; 
no Depravity but physical malformation, immaturity of powers, or 
some incident of outward condition; no Providence but the working 
of material causes and of statistical laws ; no Revelation but that of 
consciousness; no Redemption but the, elimination of evil by a 
natural sequence of suffering; no Regeneration but the natural evo- 
lution of a higher type of existence; no Retribution but the neces- 
sary consequences of physical and psychological laws. 

As a Testimony, in common with all Christian believers, against 
these and kindred errors, we deem it important to make a more 
specific declaration of the following truths: 

There is one personal God, who created all things; who con- 
trols the physical universe, the, laws whereof he has established; 
and who, holding all events within his knowledge, rules over men 
by his wise and good providence and by his perfect moral law. 

God, whose being, perfections, and government are partially 
made known to us through the testimony of his works and of con- 
science, has made a further revelation of himself in the Scriptures 
of the Old and New Testaments — a revelation attested at the first 
by supernatural signs, and confirmed through all the ages since by 
its moral effects upon the individual soul and upon human society; 
a revelation authoritative and final. In this revelation God has der 
clared himself to be the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and 
he has manifested his love for the world through the incarnation 
of the Eternal Word for man's redemption, in the sinless life, the 
expiatory sufferings and death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 
our Lord and Saviour; and also in the mission of the Holy Ghost, 
the Comforter, for the regeneration and sanctification of the souls of 
men. 

The Scriptures, confirming the testimony of conscience and of 
history, declare that mankind are universally sinners, and are under 
the righteous condemnation of the law of God; that from this state 
there is no deliverance, save through "repentance toward God, and 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ;" and that there is a day appointed 



THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 147 

in which God will raise the dead, and will judge the world, and in 
which the issues of his moral government over men shall be made 
manifest in the awards of eternal life and eternal death, according 
to the deeds done in the, body. 

JOSEPH P. THOMPSON, 1 
EDWARD A. LAWRENCE, [ Committee. 
GEORGE P. FISHER, J 

Boston, June 16, 1865. 

The report did not meet with entire favor. It was im- 
mediately referred to another committee, which was subse- 
quently enlarged so as to include the most distinguished theo- 
logians present in the Council. The whole question whether 
the Council should adopt a creed, and if so, what creed, was 
referred to this; body, consisting of Rev. John 0. Fiske, Prof. 
D. J. Noyes, Rev. Drs. Nahum Gale, Joseph Eldridge, and 
Leonard Swain, Dr. A. G. Bristol, Rev. J. C. Hart, Dea. S. S. 
Barnard and Rev. G. S. F. Savage, to which latter were added 
Profs. Samuel Harris, E. A. Park, E. A. Lawrence, Noah 
Porter, J. H. Fairchild, and Joseph Haven. 

After several days of deliberation, this committee made 
its report. It shortened the preliminary statement, and length- 
ened the confession, and made it more than ever a testimony 
against ' ' dangerous errors. ' ' Particularly, it reaffirmed ' ' our 
adherance to the above named Westminister and Savoy Con- 
fessions 'for substance of doctrine.' ' It further declared 
"our acceptance of the system of truths, which is commonly 
known among us as Calvinism." 

The committee to whom was referred the report of the 
preliminary Committee on the Declaration of Faith made re- 
port as follows: 

SECOND REPORT ON A DECLARATION OF FAITH 

The committee, in presenting the following report to the Council, 
regret that time and circumstances would not allow them to prepare 
a condensed statement of the doctrines held by our denomination. 
We desire it to be distinctly understood that the brief confession 
of the faith which we held in concert with the great body of be- 



148 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

lievers is in no sense designed to be regarded as a creed for our 
churches. 

When the churches of New England assembled in a general 
synod at Cambridge, in 1648, they declared their assent, "for the 
substance, thereof," to the Westminster Confession of Faith. When 
again, these churches convened in a general synod at Boston, in 
1680, they declared their approval (with slight verbal alterations) 
of the doctrinal symbol adopted by a synod of the Congregational 
Churches in England, at London, in 1658, and known as the "Savoy 
Confession," which in doctrine is almost identical with that of the 
Westminster Assembly. And yet again: when the churches in 
Connecticut met in Council at Saybrook, in 1708, they "owned and 
consented to" the, Savoy Confession as adopted at Boston, and of- 
fered this as a public symbol of their faith. 

Thus, from the beginning of their history, the Congregational 
churches in the United States have been allied in doctrine with the 
Reformed churches of Europe, and especially of Great Britain. The 
eighth article of the "Heads of Agreement," established by the Con- 
gregational and Presbyterian ministers in England in 1692, and 
adopted at Saybrook in 1708, defines this position in these words: 
"As to what appertains to soundness of judgment in matters of 
faith, we esteem it sufficient that a Church acknowledge the Scrip- 
tures to be the word of God, the perfect and only rule of faith and 
practice, and own either the doctrinal part of those commonly 
called the Articles of the, Church of England, or. the Confessions or 
Catechisms, shorter or larger, compiled by the Assembly at West- 
minster, or the Confession agreed on at the Savoy, to be agreeable to 
the said rule." 

In conformity, therefore, with the usage of previous Councils, 
we, the elders and messengers of the Congregational churches in 
the United States, do now profess our adherence to the above-named 
Westminster and Savoy Confessions for "substance of doctrine." 
We thus declare our acceptance of the system of truths [which is 
commonly known among us as Calvinism, and] which is distin- 
guished from other systems by so exalting the sovereignty of God 
as to "establish" rather than take away the "liberty" or free-agency 
of man, and by so exhibiting the entire character of God as to show 
most clearly "the exceeding sinfulness of sin." 

At the same time we re-affirm the fundamental principle of 
Congregationalism, that the Bible is "the only sufficient and invar- 
iable rule of religion;" that, in order to attain a faith which is 
"right and divine, the word of God must be the foundation of it, and 
the authority of the word the reason of it." We "ought to account 
nothing ancient that will not stand by this rule, and nothing new 
that will." "It was the, glory of our fathers, that they heartily 
professed the only rule of their religion, from the very first, to be 
the Holy Scripture." 

Besides thus expressing the faith which we hold as a denomi- 
nation, we deem the present a fit occasion to express the earnest- 
ness of our sympathy with all those Christian churches who are 
agreed with us in the essential truths of the gospel; especially as 



THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 149 

our common faith is now assailed by popular and destructive forms 
of unbelief, which deny the living and personal God, which reject 
the possibility of a supernatural revelation by Jesus Christ, which 
exclude the fact of sin and the hope of redemption. 

Against these dangerous errors, we, in common with all Chris- 
tian believers, confess our faith in God, the Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Ghost, the only living and true God; in Jesus Christ, the 
incarnate Word, who is exalted to be our Redeemer and King; and 
in the Holy Comforter, who is present in the Church to regenerate 
and sanctify the soul. 

With the whole Church, we confess the common sinfulness and 
ruin of our race, and acknowledge that it is only through the work 
accomplished by the life and expiatory death of Christ that we are 
justified before God, and receive the remission of sins; and that it 
is through the presence and grace of the Holy Comforter alone that 
we hope to be delivered from the power of sin and to be perfected 
in holiness. 

We believe also in the organized and visible Church, in the 
ministry of the word, in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's 
Supper, in the resurrection of the body, and in the final judgment, 
the issues of which are eternal life and everlasting punishment. 

We receive these truths on the testimony of God, given origi- 
nally through prophets and apostles, and in the life, the miracles, 
the death, the resurrection, of his Son, our divine Redeemer. This 
testimony is preserved for the Church in the Scriptures of the Old 
and New Testament, which were composed by holy men as they 
were moved by the Holy Ghost. 

We affirm our belief that those who thus hold "one faith, one 
Lord, one baptism," together constitute the one catholic Church, the 
several households of which, though called by different names, are 
the one body of Christ; and that these members of his body are 
sacredly bound to keep "the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace," 
and to dwell together in the same community in harmony and 
mutual fellowship. 

We hold it to be a distinctive excellence of our Congregational 
system that it exalts that which is more above that which is less 
important, and by the simplicity of its organization facilitates, in 
communities where the population is limited, the union of all true 
believers in one Christian Church; and that the division of such 
communities into several weak and jealous societies, holding the 
same common faith, is a sin against the unity of the body of Christ, 
and at once the shame and scandal of Christendom. 

We bless the God of our fathers for the inheritance of these 
doctrines which have been transmitted to us their children. We in- 
voke the help of the divine Redeemer, that, through the presence of 
th promised Comforter, he will enable us to transmit them in purity 
to our children. We rejoice, that, through the influence of our free 
system of apostolic order, we can hold fellowship with all who 
acknowledge Christ, and act efficiently in the work of restoring 
unity to the divided Church, and of bringing back harmony and 
peace among all "who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." 



150 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

"We believe that these truths and this free spirit have blessed our 
country in the past, that they have made, New England what she is 
in the present, and have carried her principles, by other denomina- 
tions as well as our own, throughout the Union, while in our recent 
struggle they have largely contributed to redeem and save the 
nation. 

In the critical times that are before us as a nation, times at once 
of duty and of danger, we rest all our hopes in the gospel of the 
Son of God. It was the grand peculiarity of our Puritan Fathers, 
that they held this gospel, not merely as the ground of their per- 
sonal salvation, but as declaring the worth of man by the incarna- 
tion and sacrifice of the Son of God; and therefore applied its prin- 
ciples to elevate society, to regulate education, to civilize humanity, 
to purify law, to reform the Church and thei State, to assert, to de- 
fend, and to die for liberty; in short, to mould and redeem by its 
all-transforming energy everything that belongs to man in his in- 
dividual and social relations. 

It was the faith of our fathers that gave us this free land in 
which we dwell. It is by this faith only that we can transmit it to 
our children, a free, and happy, because a Christian, commonwealth. 

We acknowledge the duty that is laid upon us by the Redeemer 
to carry this gospel into every part of this land and to all nations, 
and to teach all men the things which he, has commanded us to* ob- 
serve and to do. May He to whom "all power is given in heaven and 
earth" fulfill the promise which is all our hope: "Lo, I am with you 
alway, even to the end of the world." To him be praise in the 
Church forever, Amen. 

For the committee. JOHN 0. FISK, Chairman. 

As soon as the second committee had presented its report, 
the chairman of the previous committee, Dr. J. P. Thompson, 
moved its substitution for his own; but Rev. Uriah Balkam, 
who was from Maine, as was the chairman Dr. Fiske, opposed 
this motion, and actively moved for the adoption of the origi- 
nal report. 

A vigorous discussion ensued. It began in a contest be- 
tween the two reports, but it shifted to a debate on the name 
of Calvin. 

Among the delegates to the Council were some who did 
not believe that the Council should adopt any creed. There 
were others who declared themselves satisfied with the con- 
fessions of 1648 and 1680. There were others insisted that if 
the Council should adopt a creed it should express very strong- 
ly its disapproval of what some other people did not believe, 



THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 151 

and be sure that the Congregationalists proclaimed that they 
were Calvinists. 

Among the delegates to the Boston Council, none spoke 
more cogently on the matter of a declaration of faith than 
Rev. Asa Turner of Iowa. He expressed his disappointment, 
from the standpoint of a minister working among home mis- 
sionary fields, that the committee did not report a short, simple 
declaration, unencumbered with theological subtleties, or ob- 
scure references to earlier and unfamiliar creeds. He said, — 

"I hoped, when the subject of a declaration of faith and 
of polity was proposed for the consideration of this Conven- 
tion, that there would be a simple, comprehensive, common 
sense Declaration of Faith, written for the common people — 
not written for Andover or East Windsor, or for the theolo- 
gians, but for the people; something that the people could 
understand, and feel that it expressed the truth of the Bible. 
. . . We do not want, in expressing our belief, to tell what 
our forefathers believed two hundred years ago ; that will not 
satisfy the people of the West. ... It has been my hope, but 
I fear I may be disappointed, that such a short and simple 
statement might be made that we could say as a Council 'We 
believe it. ' We need not put in all we believe, but make it a 
statement of what we actually believe with reference to the 
most important doctrines of the Bible." 

Rev. Joshua Leavitt, of New York, moved to strike out 
the words " which is commonly known among us as Calvin- 
ism. ' ' Rev. William W. Patton, of Illinois, heartily supported 
the motion, protesting against naming our denomination after 
John Calvin, or any other man. He was strongly supported 
by Rev. J. M. Sturtevant, of Illinois, who protested against 
being compelled to subscribe to any system of doctrine divisive 
among Christians. 

Prof. Park, of Andover, for the time turned the tide in 
favor of the retention of the name of Calvin. He had been 
shut up in the basement of Mount Vernon Church in com- 



152 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

mittee work, and had had less opportunity to enter into the 
discussion than he liked. He arrived in time to utter his 
opinion on this subject, to make one or two jocular references 
to "having been kept in a cellar for two or three days" and 
then in a short speech, which makes extraordinary reading 
after this lapse of time, he stood for the retention of the refer- 
ence to Calvin. He said: 

"The man who having pursued a three years' course of 
study, having studied the Bible in the original languages, is 
not a Calvinist, is not a respectable man. ' ' He declared that 
unless the Council adopted the Confession with that word in 
it, the Council would become ' ' a hissing and a by-word ! ' ' 

For the moment the Council seemed to agree with Prof. 
Park, and took recess; but its awe of his wit and ridicule 



It was Rev. A. H. Quint who determined, to cut the knot. 
He held hurried consultations with members of the Business 
Committee, and they determined to prepare a new declaration. 
This was a daring and unauthorized act, and its justification 
is to be found in its utility and its success. There was scant 
time in which to do it, and the Council had not charged the 
Business Committee with any responsibility in the matter; 
but the plan worked out admirably. The plan was to prepare 
a Confession of Faith which should dwell chiefly on our essen- 
tial union of doctrine and purpose with the Pilgrims, and then 
to state our own faith in reasonably modern language. 

So, while the delegates were standing on Burial Hill, 
where once had stood the old Pilgrim church which was also 
their fort, Colonel Hammond of Illinois, assistant moderator, 
took the chair, and Dr. .Quint said : 

' ' I have been directed by the Business Committee to read 
a paper which is in their hands. The idea was entertained 
that it might possibly meet the views of all present. If it 
did, well; if it did not, it could be quietly dropped." 

Then he began to read: 



THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 153 

'' Standing by the rock where the Pilgrims set foot upon 
these shores, upon the spot where they worshipped God, and 
among the graves of the early generations, we, Elders and 
Messengers of the Congregational Churches of the United 
States, like them acknowledging no rule of faith but the 
Word of God, do now reiterate our adherence to the faith and 
order of the Apostolic and Primitive Churches as held by our 
fathers, ' ' — 

After such an introduction, it is little wonder the Council 
adopted the Confession. 

Mr. Quint had as his material the reports of the two pre- 
vious committees, and the suggestions of the discussions; but 
he was a member of other committees, and had scant time to 
work his material into shape, and less time to confer with 
other members of the Committee. It is literally true as Dr. 
Quint informed the present writer, that the fine introduction 
was actually written on his hat, as the train was enroute for 
Plymouth. 

There is much in taking advantage of the psychological 
moment. Delegates who had listened to the discussions of the 
two reports missed from Dr. Quint 's report the phrases which 
had precipitated warm difference of opinion, and were favor- 
ably inclined by every condition of their journey to consider 
the report which he submitted. One delegate protested, in 
the name of the Pilgrim dead, against a creed so sectarian in 
spirit, and filed his protest in writing next day ; but his single 
voice, while courteously listened to, was far outvoted. Like 
the Kansas City declaration, the Burial Hill Confession was 
adopted with only one vote against it. 

THIRD REPORT ON DECLARATION OF FAITH 

The records of the National Council of 1865, record that on 
Wednesday, June 21, the Council adjourned with the Doxology, to 
meet at the Mt. Vernon Church to-morrow morning, at 9 o'clock, 
should the day be rainy; otherwise to meet on Burial Hill in Ply- 
mouth, at 11 A. M., and then proceed: — 



154 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Eighth Day; Thursday, June 22, 1865. 

Council assembled between eleven and twelve o'clock, A. M., on 
Burial Hill, in Plymouth, Mass., and were called to order by Hon. 
C. G. Hammond, first Assistant Moderator. Prayer was offered by 
the Rev. David Bremner, pastor of the Third Church of the Pil- 
grimage in Plymouth. 

The reading of the records was postponed, until to-morrow. 

Rev. Mr Quint, from the Business Committee, presented a paper 
as a substitute for that yesterday reported by the committee to 
whom was referred the report of the preliminary Committee on a 
Declaration of Faith, as follows: — 

Report. 

Standing by the rock where the Pilgrims set foot upon these 
shores, upon the spot where they worshiped God, and among the 
graves of the early generations, we, Elders and Messengers of the 
Congregational Churches of the United States in National Council 
assembled, like them acknowledging no rule of faith but the word 
of God, do now [reiterate] our adherence to the faith and order of 
the Apostolic and Primitive Churches [as] held by our Fathers, 
and [as substantially embodied] in the Confessions and Platforms 
which our Synods of 1648 and 1680 set forth or reaffirmed. "We de- 
clare that the experience of the nearly two and a half centuries 
which have elapsed since the memorable day when our sires found- 
ed here a Christian Commonwealth, with all the development of 
new forms of error since their times, have only deepened our con- 
fidence in the faith and polity of these Fathers. We bless [the] 
God [of our Fathers] for the inheritance of these, doctrines, [which 
have been transmitted to us their children.] We invoke the help of 
the Divine Redeemer, that, through the presence of the promised 
Comforter, he will enable us to transmit them, in purity, to our 
children. 

In the times that are before us as a nation, times at once of duty 
and of danger, we rest all our hope in the gospel of the Son of God. 
It was the grand peculiarity of our Puritan Fathers that they held 
this gospel, not merely as the ground of their personal salvation, 
but as declaring the worth of man by the incarnation and sacrifice 
of the Son of God; and therefore applied its principles to elevate 
society, to regulate education, to civilize humanity, to purify law, 
to reform the Church and the State, and to assert and to defend 
liberty; in short, to mould and redeem, by its all-transforming 
energy, everything that belongs to man, in his individual and social 
relations. 

It was the faith of our fathers that gave! us this free land in 
which we dwell. It is by this faith only that we can transmit it to 
our children, a free and happy, because a Christian, commonwealth. 

We hold it to be a distinctive excellence of our Congregational 
system that it exalts that which is more above that which is less, 
important, and, by the simplicity of its organization, facilitates, in 



THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 155 

communities where the population is limited, the union of all true 
believers in one Christian Church; and that the division of such 
communities into several weak and jealous societies, holding the 
same common faith, is a sin against the unity of the body of Christ, 
and at once the shame and scandal of Christendom. 

We rejoice that, through the influence of our free system of 
apostolic order, we can hold fellowship with all who acknowledge 
Christ, and act efficiently in the work of restoring unity to the 
divided Church, and of bringing back harmony and peace among 
all "who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity." 

[But] recognizing the unity of the Church of Christ in all the 
world, and knowing that we are but one branch of Christ's people — 
while adhering to our own peculiar faith and order — we extend to 
all believers the hand of Christian fellowship upon the basis of 
those fundamental truths in which all Christians [may] agree. 
With them we confess our faith in God the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost, the only living and true God; in Jesus Christ the in- 
carnate Word, who is exalted to be our Redeemer and King; and 
in the Holy Comforter, who is present in the Church to regenerate 
and sanctify the soul. 

With the whole Church, we confess the common sinfulness and 
ruin of our race, and acknowledge that it is only through the work 
accomplished by the life and expiatory death of Christ that [we] 
are justified before God, [and] receive the remission of sins; and 
[that it is] through the presence and grace of the Holy Comforter 
[alone that we] [hope to be] delivered from the power of sin, and 
[to be] perfected in holiness. 

We believe also in [an] organized and visible Church,- in the 
ministry of the word, in the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's 
Supper, in the resurrection of the body, and in the final judgment, 
the issues of which are, eternal life and everlasting punishment. 

We receive these truths on the testimony of God, given [origin- 
ally] through prophets and apostles, and in the life, the miracles, the 
death, the resurrection, of his Son, our divine Redeemer — a testi- 
mony preserved for the Church in the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testaments, which were composed by holy men as they were moved 
by the Holy Ghost. 

Affirming now our belief that those who thus hold "one faith, 
one Lord, one baptism," together constitute the one catholic Church, 
the several households of which, though called by different names, 
are the one body of Christ, and that these members of his body are 
sacredly bound to keep "the, unity of the spirit in the bond of peace," 
we declare that we will co-operate with all who hold these truths. 
With them we will carry the gospel into every part of this land; 
and with them we will go "into all the world, and preach the gos- 
pel to every creature." 

May He to whom "all power is given in heaven and earth" fulfill 
the promise which is all our hope: "Lo, I am with you alway, 
even to the end of the world." Amen. 



156 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Dea. Charles Stoddard, of Massachusetts, moved that this sub- 
stitute be accepted and adopted; and also that it be placed in the 
hands of a committee whosei duty it shall be to suggest any verbal 
alterations that may seem to be desirable not affecting the sense, to 
report before the dissolution of the Council. The motion was 
carried. 

It was further moved that this committee be composed of one 
member from each State and Territory represented in the Council, 
and that they be chosen by ballot immediately after the preliminary 
exercises of the session of to-morrow morning. This motion was 
carried. 

After prayer by Rev. Dr. Daggett, of New York, closing with 
the Lord's prayer, in which the Council joined, the Council ad- 
journed with the singing of the Doxology, to meet in the Mount 
Vernon Church, in Boston, to-morrow at 8 A. M. 

Ninth Day; Friday Morning, June 23, 9 A. M. 

The Council was called to order by the First Assistant Moder- 
ator, Hon. C. G. Hammond, who offered prayer. 

The minutes of the Council for Wednesday and Thursday were 
read, amended, and approved. Gov. Buckingham appeared and took 
the chair. 

It was moved to reconsider the vote of yesterday, by which 
the appointment of a special committee of one from each State and 
Territory, to be chosen by ballot, to make needed verbal changes 
in the Declaration of Faith, was ordered; and the motion prevailed. 

It was further moved to amend the motion thus brought back 
to the consideration of the Council by fixing the number of the 
committee at three, and changing the mode of their appointment to 
nomination by the Moderator and his two assistants. 

Rev. Mr. Allen, of Massachusetts, asked leave to present the 
following protest, and that it be ordered to be entered on the min- 
utes. And leave was granted, and the record ordered: 
Mr. Moderator, 

Standing over the ashes of the Pilgrim Fathers, and on the sum- 
mit of this Hill consecrated to their memory, I solemnly protest 
against the adoption of the paper here and now presented, as being 
too sectarian for their catholic spirit, and too narrow to comprehend 
the breadth of their principles of Religious Freedom. 

GEO. ALLEN. 

Dr. Quint was far-sighted enough to realize the import- 
ance of the Burial Hill Confession, and also not to over-rate 
it. In the January 1866 number of the Congregational Quar- 
terly he summarized the work of the Council in a report begin- 
ing as follows: 



THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 157 

"Amid the daily business of a body such as our Council 
of 1865, it is difficult to discern clearly the great object in 
view. The necessary working machinery, however simple, is 
prominent; minor or collateral questions are being discussed; 
the shaping of various measures confines the attention. To have 
a comprehensive view of its action, we must wait until the 
work has become completed, and the subordinate parts group 
themselves into their natural relations to the main purpose. 
Where church courts or congresses meet from year to year, a 
strict unity is not to be expected. They transact ' ' business. ' ' 
Our Council met for a specific object; it was called because 
the occasion demanded it, and not because the usual time had 
come round again. Hence it ought to have worked to a central 
purpose. We think it did. Looking back, now, upon it, its 
proceedings display a clear and simple unity. We think we 
recognize God's hand in this, and we praise him for the re- 
sults we expect, and which seem already to begin. 

"We venture, for historical use, to group the actions of 
the Council, in this light. 

"The great object of this convocation was well indicated 
in the vote of the ' Convention of the Congregational Churches 
of the North- West, ' which was the first formal suggestion of 
such a meeting: for 'the Congregational churches of the 
United States to inquire what is their! duty in this vast and 
solemn crisis, such as comes only once in ages ; and what new 
efforts, measures, and polities they may owe to this condition 
of affairs, this new genesis of nations.' 

"A preliminary meeting of delegates, appointed for that 
sole purpose, issued the invitation, and also ventured to ask 
various persons to prepare papers on different subjects relat- 
ing to the main purpose. The invitation to the churches was 
accepted, and the Council came into being. 

"There was of course a necessary amount of friction in 
the organizing ; but it was slight. Considering that we had no 
precedents ecclesiastical, and hardly an approach to such a 



158 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

meeting since 1680, the common, sense of the delegates was the 
only, but safe, reliance. Such rules were adopted as seemed 
necessary ; but none which interfered with entire orderly free- 
dom. Such officers and such committees were chosen as were 
needed, and no more. 

"In prosecuting, as a denomination, the great work of 
evangelizing this nation, the first thing settled (not in the or- 
der of time, but of nature), was the doctrinal basis of the de- 
nomination. What are its ministers to teach? What do its 
churches hold ? What faith are its messengers to carry to the 
people? This question was answered in the paper adopted at 
Plymouth, There had been discussion, free and full. The 
paper presented by the preliminary committee had been re- 
ferred, and a new draft reported. On all thephrases in that 
draft there was not unanimity, although there was as to its 
meaning. A paper which embodied much of that, but in a new 
draft, avoiding the language which had excited differences, 
proved acceptable, and was solemnly adopted and again rati- 
fied. 

' ' This declaration was merely a declaration. It legislated 
no new faith into existence; but simply stated what was the 
permanent and united belief of the churches. It imposed no 
tests whatever. It said only, this is the faith which we hold, 
as did our fathers. Nothing has occured to modify our belief 
in the substantial truth of the old symbols." 

The Burial Hill Confession was approved by the National 
Council as no other confession ever had been. It was the first 
home-made confession to receive the approval of the churches 
as represented in a national gathering. All the previous Coun- 
cils, save that at Albany in 1852, were confined to New Eng- 
land ; and each of those that set out to make a new confession 
ended by adopting one ready-made, and leaving its acceptance 
more or less elastic. 

But while the Burial Hill Confession was made to order, 
it did not wholly stand apart as an independent document. 



THE BURIAL HILL CONFESSION 159 

In it the National Council did then and there "reiterate our 
adherence to the faith and order of the Apostolic and Primi- 
tive Churches as held by our fathers, and as substantially em- 
bodied in the Confessions and Platforms of 1648 and 1680 set 
forth or reaffirmed." It was and still is an open question 
whether the action at Burial Hill! did more to give the Con- 
gregational Churches a new confession, or to bind its faith 
anew ' ' for substance of doctrine ' ' to the old confessions. There 
is no doubt which of these Dr. Quint intended to do. But 
while he believed in the value of a new confession, he felt 
the value of historic continuity, and also the force of the 
demand that the creeds of the past have appropriate recogni- 
tion. 

Dr. Quint always disclaimed any purpose of limiting the 
faith of the churches in 1865 to the forms in which the same 
essential faith expressed itself in 1648 and 1680. Nothing 
brought from him a more emphatic denial than the suggestion 
that the Burial Hill Declaration was a reaffirmation in detail 
of the Confessions of 1648 and 1680. 

The Burial Hill Confession did two things. It said that 
the faith which the Pilgrims of 1865 held embodied the essen- 
tial truths which the fathers held. They held what the 
Pilgrims held in the sense in which Beecher called himself a 
Calvinist, — he believed what he thought Calvin would have 
believed if Calvin were now living! That is about the sense 
in which the Burial Hill Confession reaffirmed the Confes- 
sions of 1648 and 1680, and in that sense all Congregational- 
ists now reaffirm them. Our faith goes back along lines of a 
traceable historic development, and has come down to us 
through these channels. As honest historians we recognize it ; 
as loyal sons of the Pilgrims we are glad of it. 

But the Burial Hill Confession did another thing. It pro- 
claimed that these older confessions, embodying as they do in 
the terminology of the seventeenth century the faith which has 
been true in all ages, did not embody that faith in the form 



160 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

in which, modern men could agree in the expression of it. 
Therefore it formulated a new creed, which set forth, quite 
hastily and imperfectly, but on the whole very admirably, the 
faith of the Pilgrims, as best it could be agreed upon by a 
company of representative Congregationalists assembled at 
Plymouth in 1865, and feeling the emotions of the historic 
surroundings, and the relief from the close room and the ten- 
sion of the debate. That little confession embodied the sub- 
stance of the confessions of 1648 and 1680, and the opposing 
views of two differently minded committees, together with, the 
happy phraseology of the introduction which the car-wheels 
jolted out of Dr. Quint's pencil as he wrote on top of his hat. 
It was a very good confession, and much better made than 
most of the great creeds of the Church. If Dr. Quint's hat 
is not preserved in the Congregational Library in Boston, let 
us at least hope that his spirit survives in the younger men 
who knew and honored him, and who learned both polity and 
doctrine in discourse with him. 



V. THE OBERLIN DECLARATION 

What is known as the Oberlin Declaration is not in any 
proper sense a Creed. The National Council of 1871 was 
called on the district provision in its letter missive that the 
Burial Hill Declaration should be the doctrinal basis of the 
National Council. Had that Council followed the precedents 
of councils pro re nata, it would have had to remain so ; for 
no such council can change the letter missive, which is the 
charter of the Council. But at the very outset the National 
Council became a law unto itself, and refused to accept this 
condition of its organization. This is a matter of such im- 
portance as to justify the quotation in full of the official rec- 
ords preliminary to the organization of the National Council 
of 1871 : 

On the approach of the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of 
the landing of the Pilgrims, the Church of the Pilgrimage, at Ply- 
mouth, Mass., invited the churches to meet by delegates at New 
York, to consider the appropriateness of particular action in cele- 
brating this fifth jubilee. Such a meeting was held March 2, 1870; 
and it appointed a general committee for its purposes, consisting 
of Hon. Edward S. Tobey, Rev. William W. Patton, D. D., Rev. 
Henry M. Dexter, D. D., Samuel Holmes, A. S. Barnes, Rev. Ray 
Palmer, D. D., and Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D.; of which, the first 
named was chairman, Rev. Dr. Dexter, secretary, and Mr. Holmes, 
Treasurer. ! 

Among the acts of this committee was the calling of a Pilgrim 
Memorial Convention, which met at Chicago, 111., April 27, 1870, 
open to delegates from all the churches in the United States. 

Of that convention, B. W. Tompkins, of Connecticut, was Moder- 
ator; Hon. E. D. Holton, of Wisconsin, Rev. Samuel Wolcott, D. D., 
of Ohio, and Rev. George F. Magoun, of Iowa, Vice Moderators; 
Rev. Henry C. Abernethy, of Illinois, Rev. Philo R. Hurd, D. D., of 
Michigan, and Rev. L. Smith Hobart, of New York, Secretaries; 
and Rev. William W. Patton, D. D., of Illinois, Dr. Samuel Holmes, 
of New York, Hon. C. J. Walker, of Michigan, James L. Kearnie, of 
Missouri, and Rev. Rowland B. Howard, of Illinois, Business Com- 
mittee. ' 

161 



162 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Among the resolutions adopted at that large convention were 
the following: — 

Resolved, That this Pilgrim Memorial Convention recommended 
to the Congregational State Conferences and Associations, and to 
other local bodies, to unite in measures for instituting on the prin- 
ciple of fellowship, excluding ecclesiastical authority, a permanent 
National Conference. 

The General Conference of Ohio was the first to propose definite 
action. That Conference appointed a committee (Rev. A. Hastings 
Ross being made chairman) to correspond with the other State 
organizations and propose a convention to mature the plan. The 
several State organizations approved of the proposed National or- 
ganization, and appointed committees. The General Association of 
New York proposed that a meeting of these, committees be held in 
Boston, December 21, 1870, and its committee (Rev. L. Smith Hobart, 
chairman) issued circulars to that effect. The Committee, of the 
General Association of Masachusetts adopted the proposal, and 
issued invitations accordingly. The official record of that conven- 
tion is herewith given. 

In accordance with a call issued by a committee of the General 
Association of the Congregational Churches of Masachusetts, upon 
suggestion of the General Association of New York, Committees 
appointed by the several General Associations and Conferences in 
the United States, on the subject of a National Council, assembled 
in the Congregational Library Room, Boston, Mass., December 21, 
1870, at 12 o'clock, noon. 

Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D., of Massachusetts, called the con- 
vention to order, and read the, invitation under which the committees 
had convened. 

Rev. L. Smith Hobart, of New York, Rev. Charles Seccombe, of 
Minnesota, and Rev. Joseph A. Leach, of New Hampshire, were ap- 
pointed a committee to nominate officers. They reported the follow- 
ing nominees, who were unanimously elected: — 

Rev. Edwin B. Webb, D. D., of Massachusetts, Moderator; Hon. 
Amos C. Barstow, of Rhode Island, Assistant Moderator; Rev. 
William E. Merriman, of Wisconsin, Scribe; and Hon. Henry S. 
McCall, of New York, Assistant Scribe. 

Prayer was offered by the Moderator. 

The roll of delegates was made out, and as completed in the 
further sessions of the convention, is as follows: — 

Maine. — Rev. Benj. Tappan; Rev. Charles C. Parker, D. D. 

New Hampshire.— Rev. Josiah G. Davis, D. D.; Rev. Franklin 
D. Ayre; Rev. Cyrus W. Wallace, D. D.; Rev. Joseph A. Leach; 
Rev. George M. ; Adams; Rev. Henry E. Parker. 

Massachusetts. — Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D. ; Rev. Samuel T. 
Seelye, D. D.; Rev. Edwin B. Webb, D. D.; Hon. Charles Stoddard; 
Hon. S. Angier Chace. 

Rhode Island. — Rev. James G. Vose; Rev. James H. Lyon; Hon. 
F. W. Bicknell ; Hon. Amos C. Barstow ; Rev. Francis Horton. 

Connecticut. — Rev. Davis S. Brainerd; Rev. Robert G. Vermilye, 
D. D.; Rev. Edward W. Gilman; Bro. Ralph D. Smith; Rev. Leonard 
Bacon, D. D.; Bro. Calvin Day. 



THE OBERLIN DECLARATION 163 

New York.— Rev. L. Smith Hobart; Hon. Henry S. McCall; Rev. 
William I. Budington, D. D. 

New Jersey. — Dea. Samuel Holmes. 

Ohio. — Rev. George W. Phillips; Rev. Hiram Mead; Rev. Israel 
W. Andrews, D. D. 

Michigan. — Rev. Jesse W. Hough. 

Minnesota. — Rev. Charles Seccombe; Rev. Jas. W. Strong. 

Wisconsin. — Rev. William E. Merriman. 

Rev. Dr. Quint read the substance of the action taken by the 
several State Conferences on the subject of a National Council, and 
moved the following: — 

Resolved, That it is expedient, and appears clearly to be the 
voice of the churches, that a National Council of the Congregational 
Churches of the United States be organized. 

After full discussion, in which delegates from all the States 
represented expressed their views, the resolution was unanimously 
adopted. 

The convention took a recess of half an hour. 

On re-assembling, it was unanimously 

Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed, to whom shall 
be referred all suggestions or papers, and who shall report in proper 
draft what is necessary to the organization of a National Council. 

The following brethren were appointed the committee: — 

Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D., of Massachusetts; Rev. William E. 
Merriman, of Wisconsin; Dea. Samuel Holmes, of New Jersey; Rev. 
George W. Phillips, of Ohio; and Hon. F. W. Bicknell, of Rhode 
Island. 

Informal discussion followed, on various points submitted to 
the committee; and the convention adjourned to meet to-morrow 
at 9^ o'clock, A. M. 

Thursday, December 22, 1870. 

The convention re-assembled at 9V 2 o'clock, A. M. Prayer was 
offered by Rev. Dr. Seelye, of Massachusetts, and Rev. Mr. Hobart, 
of New York. 

The committee appointed to prepare a draft of action necessary 
to the organization of National Council, reported. Their report 
was accepted, and considered article by article. After some amend- 
ment, it was unanimously adopted, as follows: 

Resolved, 1. That it is expedient, and appears clearly to be the 
voice of the churches, that a National Council of the Congregational 
Churches of the United States be organized. 

Resolved, 2. That the churches are hereby invited to meet in 
Council, by delegates, to form such an organization, and constitute 
its first session at a place and time to be settled by! a committee 
hereafter to be appointed, who shall give public notice thereof; and 
that delegates be appointed in number and manner as follows: 
(1.) That the churches assembled in their local conferences, ap- 
point one delegate for every ten churches in their respective organi- 
zations, and one for a fraction of ten greater than one-half; it being 
understood that wherever the churches of any State are directly 
united in a General Association or Conference, they may, at their 



164 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

option, appoint the delegates in the above ratio in General Confer- 
ence, instead of in local Conferences. (2.) That in addition to the 
above, the churches united in any General Association or Confer- 
ence, appoint by such Association, one delegate, and one for each 
ten thousand communicants in their fellowship, and one, for a major 
fraction thereof. (3.) That the number of delegates be, in all cases, 
divided between ministers and lay-men, as nearly equally as is 
possible. 

Resolved, 3. That a committee, consisting of seven persons, be 
appointed to prepare the, draft of a proposed Constitution for the 
National Council, to be submitted for consideration at the meeting 
now called, and to be previously published in season for consider- 
ation at the meeting now called, and to be previously published in 
season for consideration by the churches, and that that committee 
be governed by the following directions: 

(1.) That the name be as above. 

(2.) That reference be made to the Declaration of Faith set 
forth at Plymouth, in the year 1865, as the doctrinal basis. 

(3.) That a declaration be made of the two cardinal principles 
of Congregationalism, viz.: the exclusive right and power of the 
individual churches to self-government; and the fellowship of the 
churches one with another, with the duties growing out of that 
fellowship, and especially the duty of general consultation in all 
matters of common concern to the whole, body of churches. 

(4.) That the churches withhold from the National Council all- 
legislative or judicial power over churches or individuals, and all 
right to act as a Council of Reference. 

(5.) That the objects of the, organization be set forth substan- 
tially as follows: — , 

To express and foster the substantial unity of our churches in 
doctrine, polity, and work; and 

To consult upon the common interests of all our churches, their 
duties in the work of evangelization, the, united development of their 
resources, and their relations to all parts of the kingdom of Christ. 

(6.) That the number and manner of electing delegates be as 
now adopted in calling the first meeting. 

(7.) That the session be held once in years. 

(8.) Tol provide as simple an organization, with as few officers, 
and with as limited duties as may be consistent with the efficiency 
of the Council in advancing the, principles and securing the objects 
of the proposed organization. 

Resolved, 4. That the churches throughout the country be no- 
tified of the action of this convention, and be requested to authorize 
their representatives in conferences to choose delegates as above. 

Voted, That this committee be directed to determine the time 
and place of the first meeting of the Council, and issue the, call. 

Voted, That this committee be instructed to recommend a' mode 
of providing for the expenses of delegates to the National Council. 

Voted, That thanks be returned to the brethren in Boston, for 
their abundant hospitalities. 



THE OBERLIN DECLARATION 165 

Voted, That the convention expresses to the directors of the 
American Congregational Association its sense of the value of the 
library rooms as a place of meeting. 

Voted, That an official copy of these proceedings be published 
in religious periodicals. 

The following persons were then chosen, by ballot, the com- 
mittee to prepare the draft of proposed constitution, as ordered in 
the third resolve: — 

Rev. Alonzo H. Quint, D. D., of New Bedford, Massachusetts, 
(Chairman.) 

Rev. Pres. William E. Merriman, of Ripon, Wisconsin. 

Rev. Prof. Samuel C. Bartlett, D. D., of Chicago, Illinois. 

Dea. Samuel Holmes, of Montclair, New Jersey. 

Major-General Oliver O. Howard, of Washington, District of 
Columbia, 

Rev. William I. Budington, D. D., of Brooklyn, New York. 

Hon. Amos C. Barstow, of Providence, Rhode Island. 

After prayer, the convention adjourned sine die. 

EDWIN B. WEBB, Moderator. 

William E. Merriman, Scribe. 

The Preliminary Committee decided to accept an invitation from 
the churches in Oberlin, Ohio, and issued the, call of a National 
Council to meet there November 15, 1871. — Minutes of National 
Council of 1871, pp. 7-12. 

The Oberlin Declaration is contained part in the Pre- 
amble to the Constitution of the National Council as thus 
adopted and in part on the Declaration of Unity which was 
adopted, and ordered ' ' printed in close proximity to the Con- 
stitution. ' ' 

CONSTITUTION 

[Adopted Nov. 17, 1871.] 

Preamble to the Constitution. 

The Congregational churches of the United States, by elders 
and messengers assembled, do now associate themselves in National 
Council, — 

To express and foster their substantial unity in doctrine, polity, 
and work; and 

To consult upon the common interests of all the churches, their 
duties in the work of evangelization, the united development of 
their resources, and their relations to all parts of the kingdom of 
Christ. 

They agree in belief that the Holy Scriptures are the sufficient 
and only infallible rule of religious faith and practice, their inter- 
pretation thereof being in substantial accordance with the great 
doctrines of the Christian faith, commonly called evangelical, held 



166 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

in our churches from the early times, and sufficiently set forth by 
former General Councils. 

They agree in belief that the right of government resides in 
local churches, or congregations of believers who are responsible 
directly to the Lord Jesus Christ, the one head of the Church Uni- 
versal and of all particular churches; but that all churches, being 
in communion one with another as parts of Christ's catholic church, 
have mutual duties subsisting in the obligations of fellowship. 

The churches, therefore, while establishing this National Coun- 
cil for the furtherance of the common interests and work of all the 
churches, do maintain the scriptural and inalienable right of each 
church to self-government and administration; and this National 
Council shall never exercise legislative, or judicial authority, nor 
consent to act as a council of reference. 

DECLARATION OF THE UNITY OP THE CHURCH. 
[Adopted in 1871.] 

The members of the National Council, representing the Congre- 
gational churches of the United States, avail themselves of this 
opportunity to renew their previous declarations of faith in the 
unity of the Church of God. 

While affirming the liberty of our churches, as taught in the 
New Testament, and inherited by us from our fathers, and from 
martyrs and confessors of foregoing ages, we adhere to this liberty 
all the more as affording the ground and hope of a more visible 
unity in time to come. We desire and propose to co-operate with all 
the churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the expression of the same catholic sentiments solemnly 
avowed by the Council of 1865 on the Burial Hill at Plymouth, we 
wish, at this new epoch of our history, to remove, so far as in us 
lies, all causes of suspicion and alienation, and to promote the 
growing unity of council and of the effort among the followers of 
Christ. To us, as to our brethren, "There is one body and one 
spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling." 

As little as did our fathers in their day, do we in ours, make a 
pretension to be only churches of Christ. We find ourselves con- 
sulting and acting together under the distinctive name of Congrega- 
tionalists, because in the present condition of our common Chris- 
tianity we have felt ourselves called to ascertain and to do our 
own appropriate part of the work of Christ's Church among men. 

We especially desire, in prosecuting the common work of evan- 
gelizing our own land and the world, to observe the common and 
sacred law, that, in the wide field of the world's evangelization, we 
do our work in friendly co-operation with all those who love and 
serve our common Lord. 

We believe in "the holy catholic Church". It is our prayer and 
endeavor that the unity of the Church may be more and more ap- 
parent, and that the prayer of our Lord for his disciples may be 
speedily and completely answered, and all be one; that by conse- 
quence of this Christian unity in love, the world may believe in 
Christ as sent of the Father to save the world. 






THE OBERLIN DECLARATION 167 

Following is Dr. Quint's report of the Council of 1871, 
and of the preparation and purport of the Declaration of 
Faith : 

"The Preliminary Committee appointed to prepare a 
draft of the Constitution were expressly instructed to insert a 
reference to the Plymouth Declaration of 1865, as the expres- 
sion of faith. They reported the following paragraph : — 

They [the churches] agree in belief that the Holy Scriptures 
are the sufficient and only rule of faith and practice; their under- 
standing of the doctrines thereof, and their harmony with other 
parts of the church universal, being sufficiently expressed in the 
declaration of faith set forth in National Council at Plymouth in 
the year 1865. 

"The declaration thus referred to consisted, mainly, of 
two parts, (1) a statement of our denominational doctrinal 
views, and (2), a statement of doctrine in which we are in 
harmony with other parts of the church. The first was specific, 
a reaffirmation "substantially" of our old confessions. The 
second embraced only the general doctrines of the church. 

"The first sentence of the paragraph reported at Oberlin 
received some verbal amendments. The second sentence met 
with decided criticism. Objection was made to a reference 
to a document not familiar, and which itself referred the 
reader back to two other documents, — an objection which had 
force. But the real objection found utterance in a motion to 
add the words "as follows," and then quote from the declar- 
ation of 1865, the section containing its second statement, viz. ; 
our harmony with other parts of the church. But this would 
have taken a part as if it were the whole, and would have made 
the whole paragraph inconsistent in its parts. Various amend- 
ments were offered, and many others were waiting to be in 
order, when the particular session ended. On re-assembling, 
it was voted (on motion of the chairman of the preliminary 
committee which had reported the paragraph) to refer the 
report and proposed amendments to a special committee, who 
should also consider any and all proposals which any brother 



168 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

might lay before them. The composition of that committee, 
Professor Bartlett, Hon. Elisha Carpenter, Hon. C. J. Walker, 
Rev. Dr. Dwinell, and Rev. Dr. D. T. Fiske, was a guarantee 
of a judicious result. They reported the following sub- 
stitute : — 

They [the churches] agree in belief that the Holy Scriptures are 
the sufficient and only infallible rule of religious faith and practice; 
their interpretation thereof being in substantial accordance with the 
great doctrines of the Christian faith commonly called evangelical, 
held in our churches from early times, and sufficiently set forth by 
former general Councils. 

"And this statement was at once and unanimously 
adoped. 

"It is only right to state that an article by the learned 
chairman [Dr. Bartlett] of the committee which reported this 
amendment, states that the intent of the committee was that 
the "interpretation" is "in accordance with," "that is, eon- 
formed to, moulded and governed by — the evangelical doc- 
trines. ' ' He does not regard the intent of the vote to be what 
we do. We looked rather to the distinction between an exhaus- 
tive statement of views held by our churches, and a statement 
of faith sufficient for this practical union ; and that, not the 
former, but the latter, was intended. As an exhaustive state- 
ment, many members would have steadily opposed it. As a 
basis of union, they were willing to concede it. And the mod- 
erator of the Council has expressed opinions agreeing with the 
sentiment of this article. 

' ' That this literally sets aside our old Confessions, is not 
apparent. It says that 'our interpretation' is in 'substantial 
accordance with the great doctrines of the Christian faith 
commonly called evangelical;' but this we have always said. 
The statement is not a creed ; it merely indicates a position. 
It can easily be received as meaning orily,, that our 'interpre- 
tation' is not limited by the 'evangelical' faith, but merely 
accords with it, and may go beyond it. It is to be remembered 
that this article does not purpose to define fully the faith of 



THE OBERLIN DECLARATION 169 

the churches, but the basis of union. It is explanatory of the 
first sentence; viz., that the churches associate themselves in 
National Council. And, as to the basis of union, we believe 
that the honest intent of the vote by thei Council was to make 
this union rest on the common evangelical faith, and not on 
any of the (minor) peculiarities which have distinguished us, 
as a whole, from other parts of the church catholic. And it 
implies a re-affirmation of what has been ' set forth by former 
general councils,' so far as they declare the common evangeli- 
cal doctrines. We supposed that the phrase 'in substantial 
accordance with,' meant that the common evangelical faith 
and this basis of union were substantially one. If so, it is 
really a declaration of adherence to the historic faith of the 
church of Christ, as being a sufficient basis of denominational 
unity. 

1 ' This does not alter the faith of any church. Every one 
will hold the evangelical doctrines in its own preferred cast. 
It does not mean a compromise which is to omit everything to 
which any individual Christian objects. The evangelical doc- 
trines are perfectly well defined. But the denomination de- 
clines to commit itself to the defence of any man's peculiar- 
ities, — Edwards, Hopkins, Emmons, Taylor, Tyler, or anybody 
else; or to the defence of any particular Confession as against 
any other great Confession. Variations from the well-known 
common faith of the Christian church, are left to their own 
adherents. 

"This is a broad, catholic basis. We do not bind ourselves 
by any provincial creeds or teachers. All the great Confes- 
sions are in substantial accord as to essentials. In fact, the 
'Heads of Agreement' put the doctrinal part of the Articles 
of the Church of England, the Westminister, and the Savoy, 
as equally satisfactory. Cotton Mather says our churches 
Hook all the occasions imaginable to make all the world know, 
that in the doctrinal part of religion they have agreed entirely 
with the Reformed Churches of Europe. And that they de- 



170 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

sired most particularly to maintain the faith professed! by the 
churches of Old England. ' This catholic basis is therefore no 
novelty. Instead of throwing away the substance of any Con- 
fession, we really recognize the essential faith of the Christian 
church which is in all Confessions. We refuse to be a sect, 
and we are loyal to the common faith. 

"This is a great step, therefore, towards Christian union. 
It tells all Christian people that we will not make our pecul- 
iarities a bar to the union of the separated parts of Christ's 
divided church. We can welcome union on the simple basis 
of the common faith. Whatever the immediate result may be, 
an act like this of a powerful denomination must eventually 
bear fruit, and in the mean time we have the satisfaction of 
knowing that our churches have done the right thing for 
Christian union. 

"It removes difficulties in the way of evangelization. 
Probably many of us little understand how our laborers have 
been pelted with hard phrases out of the old Confessions, and 
especially in localities where union is indispensable to make 
one efficient church. True, our denomination has never done 
more than to accept, for substance, any Confession; but that 
awkward word ' substantially, ' is a very hard word to make 
people understand, particularly if they do not want to under- 
stand it. Doubtless a man, in any church of any denomina- 
tion, who accepts literally, just as a plain man would under- 
stand it, every phrase in the Westminister, would be a rare 
specimen. The churches have never proposed to do it. They 
have never, in any synod, imposed a creed on any man's con- 
science. But every troubler has felt at liberty to insist that 
our laborers shall defend every sentence of Confessions which 
were never adopted by sentences. For ourselves, we can con- 
tinue to believe and teach that ' * no mere man since the fall is 
able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, ' 
— and to hold to this 'substantially,' that is, just as it means. 
But we are not at liberty to insist that all persons in fellow- 



THE OBERLIN DECLARATION 171 

ship shall hold to this real inability, which the Confession 
makes ' utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all 
good. ' A real inability and a ' moral ' inability are not causes 
of division, while the necessity of the work of the Holy Ghost 
is held by all. 

" As a matter of fact, we had come to this years ago. We 
believe that our rapidly-increasing Missouri churches are 
practically organized on the 'common' section of the Declar- 
ation of 1865. We think that our Southern work is on the 
same basis. That is, we organize Christian churches on the 
old Congregational theory that the Christians of any locality 
should form the church of that locality. The new Kentucky 
churches were represented at Oberlin, and are Congregational 
in form, purely ' Christian ' in doctrine. As to 'Old School' 
and ' New School, ' this distinction was not at issue in the Ober- 
lin Council; as obsolete, so far as fellowship is concerned, as 
it is in the Presbyterian church. The distinction was a differ- 
ent one; whether special Confessions of Faith should be re- 
affirmed as a basis of union, in such parts as distinguish them 
from the historic faith of the Christian church. The churches 
in Council decided to say, what they have been steadily doing. 

"Possibly some may fear that this basis is too broad for 
safety. If they do, we can look at the intent of the words 
'former general Councils.' What did they consider to be the 
common evangelical faith? The Council of 1865 was one of 
the 'former General Councils.' What it says of the 'common 
faith' is therefore pertinent. We quote it: 

With them we confess our faith in God, the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Ghost, the only living and true God; in Jesus Christ, 
the incarnate Word, who is exalted to be our Redeemer and King; 
and in the Holy Comforter, who is present in the church to regen- 
erate and sanctify the soul. 

With the whole church, we confess the common sinfulness and 
ruin of our race, and acknowledge that it is only through the work 
accomplished by the life and expiatory death of Christ that believers 
in him are justified before God, receive the remission of sins, and 
through the presence and grace of the Holy Comforter, are delivered 
from the power of sin, and perfected in holiness. 



172 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

We believe, also, in the organized and visible church, in the 
ministry of the Word, in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's 
Supper; in the resurrection of the body, and in the final judgment, 
the issues of which are eternal life and everlasting punishment. 

We receive these truths on the testimony of God, given through 
prophets and apostles, and in the life, the miracles, the death, the 
resurrection, of His Son, our divine Redeemer, — a testimony pre- 
served for the church in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ments, which were composed by holy men as they were moved by 
the Holy Ghost. 

"For ourselves, we believe the basis is at once broad, safe, 
and prophetic of great good to the work of the Master. If it 
opens the door to all manner of crude notions, as some inti- 
mate, we fail to see it. It by no means intimates, that our 
churches have no peculiarities. The distinction is still clear 
between an exhaustive statement of all our doctrinal views, 
and a statement of what we regard as a sufficient basis of 
union. As to ourselves, it does not say that the Declaration of 
1865 was not a correct representation. It does not leave us 
without Confessions, nor as admitting a vague and indefinable 
sentiment of an 'Evangelical' residuum which appears after 
taking out all that any one objects to. The faith of the Chris- 
tian church is a perfectly well-defined faith, from which here- 
sies have been rejected. And we prefer, as a basis of union, 
the catholic faith, not modified by provincialism. 

' ' It was in the line of catholicity that the Council set forth 
too the paper on the unity of the church, to accompany its 
constitution." — Congregational Quarterly, 1872. 



VI. THE CREED OF 1883. 

Good as the Burial Hill Confession was, its limitations 
were manifest. As the years went by it became increasingly 
evident that a new confession of faith was desirable. Few 
local clmrches felt like adopting the Burial Hill Confession 
with its vague allusions to the confessions of 1648 and 1680. 
New churches were rising, particularly in the West, and call- 
ing for brief and modern confessions of faith. The demand 
found voice in the Ohio Association, meeting at Wellington 
in May of 1879, setting forth the deficiency of previous declar- 
ations and calling upon the National Council to create "a 
formula that shall not be mainly a re-affirmation of former 
confessions, but that shall state in precise terms in our living 
tongue the doctrines which we hold to-day." The National 
Council which convened in St. Louis, November 15, 1880, ap- 
pointed twenty-five commissioners to prepare a creed in ac- 
cordance with this and similar demands. The Council chose 
the following : Pres. Julius H. Seelye, Prof. Charles M. Mead, 
Rev. Henry M. Dexter, Rev. Edmund K. Alden, Rev. Alexan- 
der McKenzie, Rev. James E. Johnson, Prof. George P. Fisher, 
Rev. George Leon Walker, Prof. William S. Karr, Prof. George 
T. Ladd, Rev. Samuel P. Leeds, Rev. David B. Coe, Rev. 
William M. Taylor, Rev. Lyman Abbott, Rev. Augustus: F. 
Beard, Pres. William W. Patton, Pres. James H. Fairchild, 
Pres. Israel W. Andrews, Rev. Zachary Eddy, Prof. James T. 
Hyde, Rev. Edwin P. Goodwin, Rev. Alden B. Robbins, Rev. 
Constans L. Goodell, Rev. Richard Cordley, and Prof. George 
Mooar. 

There is not in all the above list a mean or unworthy 
name ; and the list as a whole is one of note both as regards the 

173 



174 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

scholarship and the high character of the men composing it. 
The Commission devoted itself to its task with earnestness and 
with a high sense of responsibility to the churches. The re- 
port was presented in 1883, and was signed by all but three of 
the commissioners. Rev. Dr. E. P. Goodwin, of the First Con- 
gregational Church of Chicago, declined on the ground that 
he had been unable to attend the meetings of the Commission, 
but it is probable also that he was not wholly satisfied with its 
results. Prof. W. S. Karr declined to sign the report because 
the Confession did not adequately represent his views. The 
third commissioner who withheld his signature was Rev. E. K. 
Alden, secretary of the American Board. His motives were 
high and worthy, but it is impossible to contemplate his at- 
titude toward the work of the Commission and his subsequent 
relation to the American Board without a measure of genuine 
sorrow. Dr. Alden felt that the creed was wholly inadequate 
as an expression of the faith to be preached by missionaries of 
the American Board, and the time came when the divergence 
of his view from that of the denomination as a whole became 
indisputably apparent, and resulted in his retirement from 
his position as secretary of the American Board. 

The Creed of 1883 contains twelve articles, following the 
general order of the articles in the historic creeds. Its state- 
ments are clear; its language is free from theological subtle- 
ties ; its says what it was intended to say. It begins with no 
reference to earlier confessions, but stands on its own feet as 
a direct and comprehensive statement of doctrine. It is im- 
possible to read it thoughtfully without increased respect for 
the men who wrote it and admiration for the way in which 
they performed their task. Its thought and language are mod- 
ern without any attempt to incorporate transcient phases of 
current thought. It sets forth the great doctrines in high 
relief, and is singularly free from obscurities and trivialities. 
It is altogether admirable in its sincerity, its clarity and its 
balance. 



THE CREED OP 1883 175 

The churches hailed this new confession with great satis- 
faction, and hundreds of them immediately adopted it. It 
was sharply criticised both for what it contained and what it 
omitted. It is almost impossible to understand why any one 
should have objected to it, as some good men did, on the 
ground that it was not sufficiently evangelical. Gradually the 
opposition died down, and its place already secure in the affec- 
tions of the Congregational churches became unassailable. 

The report which the Commission published was dated 
December 19, 1883, and with its publication, the work of the 
Commission ceased. It was hardly referred to in the Council 
of 1886, excepting possibly in terms of censure in one or two 
of the addresses. No official action was taken concerning it. 
It made its way by reason of its own inherent worth and the 
confidence of the churches in the men who had wrought it. 
And it made its way surely, in the face of adverse criticism 
which at this day it is difficult to understand. 

But by the time people ceased objecting to the Creed of 
1883, the time for a new creed had come. There was little call 
and less occasion for a confession to take the place of the 
Creed of 1883 ; but there was a growing demand for a confes- 
sion of faith more brief and less formal, to be employed for 
a wide variety of uses, for which the Creed of 1883 was not 
entirely available. The Confession of Faith adopted by the 
National Council at Kansas City in 1913 came at a time when 
some such confession was needed. If it shall serve its purpose 
as long and as well as did the Creed of 1883, all 1 who had any 
share in its preparation or adoption will have sufficient reason 
to be grateful. 

The report of the Commission of 1883 contained what the 
Commission called a Confession of Faith, but which was a 
proposed form of admission of members to local churches. In 
that form of admission, the creedal statement was not the Creed 
of 1883, but the Apostles' Creed. This is an interesting fact, 
and shows how far the framers of the Creed of 1883 were from 



176 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

expecting or desiring that their creed should be used as a test 
of fitness for church membership. The form of admission of 
members was hastily prepared, and was never accounted sat- 
isfactory, and was later superseded by another form, not much 
more so. But the report here given is that of the Commission 
as it was first published, including the very brief and modest 
introduction and postscript, the Creed, and the " Confession of 
Faith." 

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION OP 1883 
TO THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCHES 

The undersigned, members of the Commission appointed under 
the direction of the National Council of the Congregational Churches 
of the United States, "to prepare, in the form of a creed or cate- 
chism, or both, a simple, clear, and comprehensive exposition of the, 
truths of the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, for the instruction 
and edification of our churches" herewith submit to the churches 
the following 

Statement of Doctrine: 

I. We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven 
and earth, and of all things visible and invisible; 

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who is of one 
substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; 

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who is sent 
from the Father and Son, and who together with the Father and 
Son is worshiped and glorified. 

II. "We believe that the providence of God, by which he exe- 
cutes his eternal purposes in the government of the world, is in 
and over all events; yet so that the freedom and responsibility of 
man are not impaired, and sin is the act of the creature alone. 

III. We believe that man was made in the image of God, that 
he might know, love, and obey God, and enjoy him forever; that our 
first parents by disobedience fell under the righteous condemnation 
of God; and that all men are so alienated from God that there is no 
salvation from the guilt and power of sin except through God's re- 
deeming grace. 

IV. We believe that God would have all men return to him; 
that to this end he has made himself known, not only through the 
works of nature, the course of his providence, and the consciences 
of men, but also through supernatural revelations made especially 
to a chosen people, and above all, when the fullness of time was 
come, through Jesus Christ his Son. 

V. We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ments are the record of God's revelation of himself in the work of 
redemption; that they were written by men under the special guid- 



THE CREED OF 1883 177 

ance of the Holy Spirit; that they are able to make wise unto salva- 
tion; and that they constitute the authoritative standard by which 
religious teaching and human conduct are to be regulated and 
judged. 

VI. We believe that the love of God to sinful men has found its 
highest expression in the redemptive work of his Son; who became 
man, uniting his divine nature with our human nature in one per- 
son; who was tempted like other men, yet without sin; who by his 
humiliation, his holy obedience, his sufferings, his death on the 
cross, and his resurrection, became a perfect Redeemer; whose 
sacrifice of himself for the sins of the world declares the righteous- 
ness of God, and is the sole and sufficient ground of forgiveness and 
of reconciliation with him. 

VII. We believe that Jesus Christ, after he had risen from the 
dead, ascended into heaven, where, as the one mediator between 
God and man, he carries forward his work of saving men; that he 
sends the Holy Spirit to convict them of sin, and to lead them to 
repentance and faith, and that those who through renewing grace 
turn to righteousness, and trust in Jesus Christ as their Redeemer, 
receive for his sake the forgiveness of their sins, and are made the 
children of God. 

VIII. We believe that those who are thus regenerated and 
justified, grow in sanctified character through fellowship with Christ, 
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and obedience to the truth; that a 
holy life is the fruit and evidence of saving faith; and that the 
believer's hope of continuance in such a life is ini the preserving 
grace of God . 

IX. We believe that Jesus Christ came to establish among men 
the kingdom of God, the reign of truth and love, righteousness and 
peace; that to Jesus Christ, the Head of this kingdom, Christians 
are directly responsible in faith and conduct; and that to him all 
have immediate access without mediatorial or priestly intervention. 

X. We believe that the Church of Christ, invisible and spiritual, 
comprises all true believers, whose duty it is to associate themselves 
in churches for the maintenance of worship, for the promotion of 
spiritual growth and fellowship, and for the conversion of men; 
that these churches, under the guidance of the Holy Scriptures and 
in fellowship with one another, may determine — each for itself — 
their organization, statements of belief, and forms of worship, may 
appoint and set apart their own ministers,, and should co-operate 
in the work which Christ has committed to them for the furtherance 
of the Gospel throughout the world. 

XI. We believe in the observance of the Lord's Day, as a day 
of holy rest and worship; in the ministry of the word; and in the 
two sacraments, which Christ has appointed for his church: Bap- 
tism, to be administered to believers and their children, as the sign 
of clearness from sin, of union to Christ, and of the impartation of 
the Holy Spirit; and the Lord's Supper, as a symbol of his atoning 
death, a seal of its efficacy, and a means whereby he confirms and 
strengthens the spiritual union and communion of believers with 
himself. 



178 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

XII. We believe in the ultimate prevalence of the kingdom of 
Christ over all the earth; in the glorious appearing of the great 
God and our Savior Jesus Christ; in the resurrection of the dead; 
and in a final judgment the issues of which are everlasting punish- 
ment and everlasting life. 

The Commission also submit for the use of the churches in the 
admission of members, the following 

Confession of Faith: 

"What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward 
me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the 
Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all 
his people." 

"Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I 
confess also before my Father, which is in heaven." 

"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with 
the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

Dearly beloved, called of God to be his children through Jesus 
Christ our Lord, you are here, that, in the presence of God and his 
people, you may enter into the fellowship and communion of his 
Church. You do truly repent of your sins; you heartily receive 
Jesus Christ as your crucified Savior and risen Lord; you consecrate 
yourselves unto God and your life to his service; you accept his 
Word as your law, and his Spirit as your Comforter and Guide; and 
trusting in his grace to confirm and strengthen you in all goodness, 
you promise to do God's holy will, and to walk with this Church in 
the truth and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Accepting, according to the measure of your understanding of 
it, the system of Christian truth held by the churches of our faith 
and order, and by this church into whose fellowship you now enter, 
you join with ancient saints, with the Church throughout the world, 
and with us, your fellow-believers, in humbly and heartily confess- 
ing your faith in the Gospel, saying: 

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and 
earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who was con- 
ceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under 
Pontius Pilate ,was crucified, dead, and buried; the third day he 
rose from the dead; he, ascended into heaven; and sitteth on the 
right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come 
to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the 
holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of 
sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen. 

(Then should baptism be administered to those who have not 
been baptized. Then should those rise who would unite with the 
church by letter. To them the minister should say: 

Confessing the Lord whom we unitedly worship, you do now 
renew your self-consecration, and join with us cordially in this, our 
Christian faith and covenant.) 

(The members of th Church present should rise.) 

We welcome you into our fellowship. We promise to watch 
over you with Christian love. God grant that, loving and being loved, 



THE CREED OP 1883 179 

serving and being served, blessing and being blessed, we may be 
prepared, while we dwell together on earth, for the perfect com- 
munion of the saints in heaven. "Now the God of peace, that brought 
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the 
sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you 
perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which 
is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be 
glory for ever and ever. Amen." 

(Jude 24-25 is proposed as ah alternative benediction.) 
On this result, reached after full and prolonged deliberation, 
the Commission invoke the kindly consideration of their brethren, 
and the blessing of Almighty God. 

Julius H. Seelye, D. D., Amherst, Mass. 

Charles M. Mead, D. D., Andover, Mass. 

Henry M. Dexter, D. D., Boston, Mass. 

Alexander McKenzie, D. D., Cambridge, Mass. 

James Gibson Johnson, D. D., Rutland, Vt. 

George P. Fisher, D. D., New Haven, Conn. 

George L. Walker, D. D., Hartford, Conn. 

George T. Ladd, D. D., New Haven, Conn. 

Samuel P. Leeds, D. D., Hanover, N. H. 

David B. Coe, D. D., New York, N. Y. 

William M. Taylor, D. D., New York, N. Y. 

Lyman Abbott, D. D., Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, N. Y. 

Augustus P. Beard, D. D., Syracuse ,N. Y. 

William W. Patton, D. D., Washington, D. C. 

James H. Fairchild, D. D., Oberlin, 0. 

Israel W. Andrews, D. D., Marietta, O. 

Zachary Eddy, D. D., Detroit, Mich. 

James T. Hyde, D. D., Chicago, 111. 

Alden B. Robbins, D. D., Muscatine, la. 

Constans L. Goodell, D. D., St. Louis, Mo. 

Richard Cordley, D. D., Emporia, Kan. 

George Moar, D. D., Oakland, Cal. 

New York, December 19, 1883. 



VII. ENGLISH AND CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 

(1) THE ENGLISH DECLARATION OF 1833 

As in the United States, so also in Great Britain; there 
was no attempt on the part of the Congregational churches to 
formulate a confession of faith for many generations after the 
publication of the Savoy Declaration. The English churches 
have been even more careful than the Congregational churches 
of America concerning movements which seemed to involve the 
right of any central body to impose a creed either upon a local 
church, or upon an individual member. But in 1830, after a 
period of denominational decline and a revival of denomina- 
tional consciousness, a Congregational headquarters was es- 
tablished in London, and three years later a Declaration of 
Faith, which had been prepared by Rev. George Bedford, 
D. D., LL.D., was accepted "as the declaration of the Con- 
gregational Body, with a distinct understanding that it is not 
intended as a test, or creed for subscription. It is a dignified, 
deep-spirited and evangelical utterance, and it still is printed 
in the Year Book of the Congregational Union of England 
and of Wales. 

THE ENGLISH DECLARATION 

The, Congregational Churches in England and Wales, frequently- 
called Independents, hold the following Doctrines, as of Divine 
authority, and as the foundation of Christian faith and practice. 

They are also formed and governed according to the principles 
hereinafter stated. 

PRELIMINARY NOTES. 

1. It is not designed, in the following summary, to do more 
than to state the leading doctrines of faith and order maintained by 
Congregational Churches in general. 

180 



ENGLISH AND CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 181 

2. It is not proposed to offer any proofs, reasons, or arguments, 
in support of the doctrines herein stated, but simply to declare what 
the denomination believes to be taught by the pen of inspiration. 

3. It is not intended to present a scholastic or critical confes- 
sion of faith, but merely such a statement as any intelligent member 
of the* body might offer, as containing its leading principles. 

4. It is not intended that the following statement should be 
put forth with any authority, or as a standard to which assent 
should be required. 

5. Disallowing the utility of Creeds and Articles of religion as 
a bond of union, and protesting against subscription to any human 
formularies, as a term of communion, Congregationalists are yet 
willing to declare, for general information, what is commonly be- 
lieved among them; reserving to every one the most perfect liberty 
of conscience. 

6. Upon some minor points of doctrine and practice, they, dif- 
fering among themselves, allow to each other the right to form an 
unbiased judgment of the word of God. 

7. They wish to be observed, that, notwithstanding their jeal- 
ousy of subscription to Creeds and Articles, and their disapproval of 
the imposition of any human standard, whether of faith or discipline, 
they are far more agreed in their doctrines and practices than any 
church which enjoys subscription, and enforces the human stand- 
ard of orthodoxy; and they believe that there is no minister and 
no church among them that would deny the substance of any one 
of the following doctrines of religion; though each might prefer 
to state his sentiments in his own way. 

PRINCIPLES OP RELIGION 

I. The Scriptures of the Old Testament, as received by the 
Jews, and the books of the New Testament, as received by the 
Primitive Christians from the Evangelists and Apostles, Congrega- 
tional Churches believe to be divinely inspired, and of supreme 
authority. These writings, in the languages in which they were 
originally composed, are to be consulted, by the aids of sound criti- 
cism,- as a final appeal in all controversies; but the common version 
they consider to be adequate to the ordinary purposes of Christian 
instruction and edification. 

II. They believe in one God, essentially wise, holy, just, and 
good; eternal, infinite, and immutable, in all natural and moral 
perfections ; the Creator, Supporter, and Governor of all beings, and 
of all things. 

III. They believe that God is revealed in the Scriptures, as the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that to each are attributed 
the same divine properties and perfections. The doctrine of the 
Divine existence, as above stated, they cordially believe without 
attempting fully to explain. 

IV. They believe that man was created after the divine image, 
sinless, and in his kind perfect. 



182 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

V. They believe that the first man disobeyed the divine com- 
mand, fell from his state of innocence and purity, and involved all 
his posterity in the consequences of that fall. 

VI. They believe that therefore all mankind arei born in sin, 
and that a fatal inclination to moral evil, utterly incurable by human 
means, is inherent in every descendant of Adam. 

VII. They believe that God having, before the foundation of 
the world, designed to redeem fallen man, made disclosures of his 
mercy, which were the grounds of faith and hope from the earliest 
ages. 

VIII. They believe that God revealed more fully to Abraham 
the covenant of his grace; and, having promised that from his 
descendants should arise the Deliverer and Redeemer of mankind, 
set that Patriarch and his posterity apart, as a race specially 
favored and separated to his service; a peculiar church, formed and 
carefully preserved, under the divine sanction and government, until 
the birth of the promised Messiah. 

IX. They believe that, in the fulness of the time, the Son of 
God was manifested in the flesh, being born of the Virgin Mary, 
but conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit; and that our Lord 
Jesus Christ was both the Son of man and the Son of God, partaking 
fully and truly of human nature, though without sin, equal with the 
Father, and "the express image of his person." 

X. They believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, revealed, 
either personally in his own ministry, or by the Holy Spirit in the 
ministry of his apostles, the whole mind of God for our salvation; 
and that by his obedience to the divine law while he lived, and by 
his sufferings unto death, he meritoriously "obtained eternal re- 
demption for us;" having thereby vindicated and illustrated divine 
justice, "magnified the law," and "brought in everlasting righteous- 
ness." 

XI. They believed that, after his death and resurrection, he 
ascended up into heaven, where, as the Mediator, he "ever liveth" 
to rule over all, and to "make intercession for them that come unto 
God by him." 

XII. They believe that the Holy Spirit is given in consequence 
of Christ's mediation, to quicken and renew the hearts of men; 
and that his influence is indispensably necessary to bring a sinner 
to true repentance, to produce saving faith, to regenerate the heart, 
and to perfect our sanctification. 

XIII. They believe that we are justified through faith in Christ; 
as "the Lord our righteousness," and not "by the works of the Law." 

XIV. They believe that all who will be saved were the objects of 
God's eternal and electing love, and were given by an act of divine 
sovereignty to the Son of God; which in no way interferes with the 
system of means, nor with the grounds of human responsibility, 
being wholly unrevealed as to its- objects, and therefore incapable of 
becoming a rule of human duty. 

XV. They believe that the Scriptures teach the final persever- 
ance of all true believers to a state of eternal blessedness; which 



ENGLISH AND CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 183 

they are appointed to obtain through constant faith in Christ, and 
uniform obedience to his commands. 

XVI. They believe that a holy life will be the necessary effect 
of a true faith, and that good works are the certain fruits of a vital 
union to Christ. 

XVII. They believe that the sanction of true Christians, of 
their growth in the graces of the Spirit, and meetness for heaven, 
is gradually carried on through the whole period, during which it 
pleases God to continue, them in the present life ; and that, at death, 
their souls, perfectly freed from all remains of evil, are immediately 
received into the presence of Christ. 

XVIII. They believe in the perpetual obligation of Baptism, 
and the Lord's Supper: the former to be administered to all con- 
verts to Christianity and their children, by the application of water 
to the subject, "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the. 
Holy Ghost;" and the latter to be celebrated by Christian churches 
as a token of faith in the Saviour, and of brotherly lova 

XIX. They believe that Christ will finally come to judge the 
whole human race according to their works; that the bodies of the 
dead will be, raised again; and that as the Supreme Judge, he will 
divide the righteous from the wicked, will receive the righteous into 
"life everlasting," but send away the wicked into "everlasting pun- 
ishment." 

XX. They believe that Jesus Christ directed his followers to 
live together in Christian fellowship, and to maintain the commun- 
ion of saints; and that, for this purpose, they are jointly to observe 
all divine ordinances, and maintain that church-order and disci- 
pline which is either expressly enjoined by inspired institution, or 
sanctioned by the undoubted example of the apostles and of apos- 
tolic churches. 

(2) THE FREE CHURCH CATECHISM 

The Free Church Federation grew out of a congress of 
members of Free Churches held in Manchester, England, in 
November, 1892. The causes for its development were the re- 
turn of the churches to Christ Jesus as the sole and exclusive 
authority in the life of the soul and in the activities of the 
churches; the growing perception of an important difference 
between the essentials and non-essentials of Christian doctrine ; 
the conviction of the dissenting churches that in union was 
strength in the isolated condition of the separate evangelical 
communions outside the Anglican establishment, and especially 
the need of a more sustained and united effort to carry the 



184 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Gospel to the people of the large towns and cities. A Feder- 
ation of these churches including Baptists, Methodists, Con- 
gregationalists, Presbyterians and others, was formed in 1896. 
It has for its purpose the advocating of the New Testament 
doctrine of the Church and the defense of the rights of the as- 
sociated churches and the promotion of the application of the 
law of Christ to every human relation. It has carried on im- 
portant evangelistic movements, including those of F. B. 
Meyer and Gypsy Smith, and has led crusades against gamb- 
ling, drunkenness, and social vice. It has been a power in the 
political life of Great Britain. In 1899 it adopted the Free 
Church Catechism, which has gained wide recognition in Eng- 
land and Wales, and has not been without influence in this 
country. 

THE FREE CHURCH CATECHISM 

1. Question. — What is the, Christian religion? 

Answer. — It is the religion founded by our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ, Who has brought to us the full knowledge of God and 
of Eternal Life. 

2. Q. — How must we think of God? 

A. — God is the one Eternal Spirit, Creator and Sustainer of all 
things; He is Love, boundless in wisdom and power, perfect in holi- 
ness and justice, in mercy and truth. 

3. Q. — By what name has Jesus taught us to call God? 
A. — Our Father in Heaven. 

4. Q. — What do 1 we learn from this name of Father? 

A. — We learn that God made us in His own image, that He 
cares for us by His wise providence, and that He loves us far better 
than any earthly parent can. 

5. Q. — What does Jesus say about Himself? 

A. — That He is the Son of God, Whom the Father in His great 
love sent into the world to be our Savior from sin. 

6. Q.— What is sin? 

A. — Sin is any thought or feeling, word or act, which either is 
contrary to God's holy law, or falls short of what it requires. 

7. Q. — Say in brief what .God's law requires. 

A. — That we should love God with our whole heart, and our 
neighbor as ourselves. 

8. Q. — Are we able of ourselves to do this? 

A. — No; for, although man was made innocent at the first, yet 
he fell into disobedience, and since then no one has been able, in his 
own strength, to keep God's law. 



ENGLISH AND CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 185 

9. Q. i-What are the consequences of sin? 

A. — Sin separates man from God, corrupts his nature, exposes 
him to manifold pains and griefs, and, unless he repents, must issue 
in death eternal. 

10. Q. — Can we deliver ourselves from sin and its consequences? 
A. — By no means; for we are unable either to cleanse our own 

hearts or to make amends for our offenses. 

11. Q. — How did the Son of God save His people from their sins? 
A. — For our salvation He came down from Heaven, and was 

incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, 
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and 
was buried, and the third day He rose again according to the Scrip- 
tures, and ascended into Heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the 
Father. 

12. Q. — What benefit have we from the Son of God becoming man? 
A. — We have a Mediator between God and men; one who as 

God reveals to us what God is; and, as perfect Man, represents our 
race before God. 

13. Q.- — What further benefits have we from our Lord's life on 
earth? 

A. — We have in Him a brother man who is touched with the 
feeling of our infirmities, as well as a perfect example of what we 
ought to be. 

14. Q. — What did He accomplish for us by His death on the Cross? 
A.— By offering Himself a sacrifice without blemish unto God, 

He fulfilled the requirements of Divine Holiness, atoned for all our 
sins, and broke the power of Sin . 

15. Q. — What does the resurrection of Jesus teach us? 

A. — It assures us that He has finished the work of our redemp- 
tion; that the dominion of death is ended; and that, because He 
lives, we shall live also. 

16. Q.— What do we learn from His Ascension into Heaven? 

A. — That we have in Him an Advocate with the Father, Who 
ever liveth to make intercession for us. 

17. Q. — What do we learn from! His session at the right hand of 
God? 

A. — That He is exalted as our Head and King, to Whom has 
been given all authority in Heaven and on earth. 

18. Q. — How does Jesus Christ still carry on His work of salvation? 
A. — By the third person in the blessed Trinity, the Holy Spirit, 

Who was sent forth at Pentecost. 

19. Q. — What is the mystery of the blessed Trinity? 

A.— That the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, into Whose 
Name we are baptized, are one! God. 

20. Q. — What must we do in order to be saved? 

A. — We must repent of our sin and believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. 



186 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

21. Q.— What is it to repent? 

A. — He who truly repents of his sin not only confesses it with 
shame and sorrow, but above all he* turns from it to God with sin- 
cere desire to be forgiven and steadfast purpose to sin no more. 

22. Q. — What is it to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? 

A. — It means that we rely on Him as our Teacher, Savior and 
Lord, putting our whole trust in the grace of God through Him. 

23. Q. — How are we enabled to repent and believe? 

A. — By the secret power of the Holy Spirit working graciously 
in our hearts, and using for this end providential discipline and the 
message of the Gospel. 

24. Q. — What benefits do we receive when we repent and believe? 
A. — Being united to Christ by faith, our sins are freely forgiven 

for His sake; our hearts are renewed, and we become- children of 
God and joint heirs with Christ. 

25. Q. — In what way are we to show ourselves thankful for such 
great benefits? 

A. — By striving to follow the example of Jesus in doing and 
bearing the will of our Heavenly Father. 

26. Q. — Where do we find God's will briefly expressed? 

A. — In the Decalogue or Law of the Ten Commandments, as ex- 
plained by Jesus Christ. 

27. Q. — Repeat the Ten Commandments. 

A. — (Repetition of the Commandments.) 

28. Q. — How has our Lord taught us to understand the Law? 

A. — He taught that the Law reaches to the desires, motives and 
intentions of the heart, so that we cannot keep it unless we love 
God with our whole heart and our neighbor as ourselves. 

(1) Q. — What does the First Commandment teach us? 

A. — To take the one living and true God for our own God, and 
render unto Him the honor which is due to Him alone. 

(2) Q. — What does the Second Commandment teach us? 

A. — To worship God in spirit and truth, not by the use of images 
or other devices of men, but in such ways as He has Himself ap- 
pointed. 

(3) Q. — What does the Third Commandment teach us? 

A. — Never to blaspheme and never to utter profane words, but 
always to regard and use with deep reverence the Holy Name of 
God. 

(4) Q. — What does the Fourth Commandment teach us? 

A. — That we ought to be diligent in our calling during six days 
in the week, but keep one day hallowed for rest and worship; and 
because Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, 
Christians observe that day, calling it the Lord's Day. 

(5) Q. — What does the Fifth Commandment teach us? 

A. — That God regards with special favor those who reverence 
and obey their parents. 

(6) Q. — What does the Sixth Commandment teach us? 

A. — To hold human life sacred, and instead of hating or hurting 
our fellow-men, even our enemies, to do all we can to preserve them 
in health and well-being. 



ENGLISH AND CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 187 

(7) Q. — What does the Seventh Commandment teach us? 

A. — To honor God's ordinance of marriage, to preserve modesty, 
and to keep ourselves chaste in thought, speech and behavior. 

(8) Q. — What does the Eighth Commandment teach us? 

A. — To be honest and fair in all our dealings, and in no wise 
to take unbrotherly advantage of another by fraud or force. 

(9) Q. — What does the Ninth Commandment teach us? 

A. — To avoid false testimony, and never to deceive anyone or 
spread reports to our neighbor's hurt. 
(10) Q. — What does the Tenth Commandment teach us? 

A. — Not even in our heart to grudge our fellowman his pros- 
perity or desire to deprive him of that which is his, but always to 
cultivate a thankful and contented spirit. 

29. Q. — What special means has God provided to assist us in lead- 
ing a life of obedience? 

A. — His Word, Prayer, the Sacraments, and the Fellowship of 
the Church. 

30. Q. — Where do we find God's Word written? 

A. — In the Holy Bible, which is the inspired record of God's 
revelation given to be our rule of faith and duty. 

31. Q. — What is prayer? 

A. — In prayer we commune with our Father in Heaven, con- 
fess our sins, give Him thanks for all His benefits, and ask, in the 
name of Jesus for such things as He has promised. 

32. Q. — Repeat the Lord's Prayer. 
A. — (Repetition of the Prayer.) 

(1) Q. — What is meant by the words — "Hallowed be Thy Name"? 
A. — That our Heavenly Father would lead all men to acknowl- 
edge and reverence Him as Jesus has made Him known, so that 
everywhere His glorious praise may be proclaimed. 

(2) Q. — What do we pray for in the words — "Thy Kingdom come"? 
A. — We pray that the Gospel may spread and prevail in all the 

world, till the power of evil is overthrown and Jesus reigns in every 
heart, and governs every relation of human life, 

(3) Q. — What is meant by the words — "Thy will be done in earth as 
it is in heaven"? 

A. — That all men may be led to accept God's holy will, and 
cheerfully to do whatever He requires, so that his gracious purpose 
may be fulfilled. 

(4) Q. — What shall we desire when we say — "Give us this day our 
daily bread"? 

A. — That God would prosper our daily labor, and provide what 
is needed for the body, ridding us of anxiety and disposing us to 
contentment. 

(5) Q. — Explain this petition — "Forgive us our debts as we forgive 
our debtors." 

A. — Here Christ teaches us that we may confidently ask God to 
forgive us our sins, but that He will not do so unless we ourselves 
from the heart, forgive, those who have wronged us. 

(6) Q. — What do we ask for in the last petition — "Lead us not into 
temptation but deliver us from evil"? 



188 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

A. — We entreat that we may not need, for our humbling, to be 
exposed to severe temptations, and that we may be kept from the 
power of every spiritual enemy. 

33. Q— What is the Holy Catholic Church? 

A. — It is that Holy Society of believers in Christ Jesus which 
He founded ,of which He is the only Head, and in which He dwells 
by His spirit; so that, though made up of many communions, or- 
ganized in various modes, and scattered throughout the world, it is 
yet One in Him. 

34. Q. — For what ends did our Lord found His Church? 

A. — He united His people into this visible brotherhood for the 
worship of God and the ministry of the Word and the Sacraments; 
for mutual edification, the administration of discipline, and the ad- 
vancement of His Kingdom. 

35. Q. — What is the essential mark of a true branch of the Cath- 
olic Church? 

A. — The essential mark of a true branch of the Catholic Church 
is the presence of Christ, through His indwelling manifested in 
holy life and fellowship . 

36. Q.— What is a Free Church? 

A. — A Church which acknowledges none but Jesus Christ as 
Head, and, therefore, exercises its right to interpret and administer 
His laws without restraint or control by the State. 

37. Q— What is the duty of the Church to the State? 

A. — To observe all the laws of the State unless contrary to the 
teachings of Christ; to make intercession for the people, and par- 
ticularly for those in authority; to teach both rulers and subjects 
the eternal principles of righteousness, and to imbue the nation 
with the spirit of Christ. 

38. Q.— What is the duty of the State to the Church? 

A. — To protect all branches of the Church and their individual 
members in the enjoyment of liberty to worship God, and in efforts 
to promote the religion of Christ, which do not interfere with the 
civil rights of others. 

39. Q— What is a Christian minister? 

A. — A Christian minister is one who is called of God and the 
Church to be a teacher of the Word and a pastor of the flock of 
Christ. 

40. Q. — How may the validity of such a ministry be proved? 

A. — The decisive proof of a valid ministry is the sanction of the 
Divine Head of the Church, manifested in the conversion of sinners 
and the edification of the Body of Christ. 

41. Q. — What are the Sacraments of the Church? 

A. — Sacred rites instituted by our Lord Jesus to make more 
plain by visible signs the inward benefits of the Gospel, to assure 
us of His promised grace, and, when rightly used, to become a means 
to convey it to our hearts. 

42. Q. — How many Sacraments are there? 

A. — Two only; Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 

43. Q. — What is the visible sign in the Sacrament of baptism? 

A. — Water: wherein the person is baptized into the name of the 
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 



ENGLISH AND CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 189 

44. Q. — What inward benefits does this signify? 

A. — The washing away of sin and the new birth wrought by the 
Holy Spirit in all who repent and believe. 

45. Q. — What are the outward signs in the Lord's Supper? 

A. — Bread and wine: which the Lord has commanded to be 
given and received for a perpetual memorial of His death. 

46. Q. — What is signified by the Bread and Wine? 

A. — By the Bread is signified the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ 
in which He lived and died; by the Wine is signified His blood, shed 
once for all upon the Cross for the remission of sins. 

47. Q. — What do they receive who in penitence and faith partake 
of this Sacrament? 

A. — They feed spiritually upon Christ as the nourishment of 
the soul, by which they are strengthened and refreshed for the 
duties and trials of life. 

48. Q. — Why do Christians partake in common of the Lord's 
Supper? 

A. — To show their oneness in Christ, to confess openly their 
faith in Him, and to give one another a pledge of brotherly love. 

49. Q. — What is a Christian's chief comfort in this life? 

A. — That in Christ he belongs to God, who makes all things 
work together for good to them that love Him. 

50. Q. — What hope have we in the prospect of death? 

A. — We are well assured that all who fall asleep in Christ are 
with Him in rest and peace; and that even as He, rose from the 
dead, so shall we also rise and be clothed with glorified bodies. 

51. Q. — What has Jesus told us of His Second Advent? 

A. — That at a time known only to God, He shall appear again 
with power, to be glorified in His saints and to be the Judge of all 
mankind; and that for His appearing we should be always ready. 

52. Q. — What is the Christian's hope concerning the future state,? 
A. — We look for the life everlasting, wherein all who are saved 

through Christ shall see God and inherit the kingdom prepared for 
them from the foundation of the world. 

(3) CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 

The Congregational churches of Canada have never 
adopted a general confession of faith. The local use of creeds 
exhibits marked variety. Some have simple covenants con- 
taining brief allusions to the fundamentals in a few sentences. 
The confession most generally appealed to is the Commission's 
Creed of 1883, which has been adopted by a number of local 
churches and several times has been printed in the Canadian 
Year Book. In the language of Prof. E. Munson Hill, of 
Montreal, "It expresses the general belief of the Congrega- 



190 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

tional churches of Canada, but is not binding and is not used 
as a test." 

The most important document, which has received the 
assent of the Canadian churches is the doctrinal basis of the 
proposed union of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Congrega- 
tional churches. This is a somewhat elaborate document con- 
taining twenty articles, much longer and more specific than 
the Dayton Creed, which was approved as the basis of the 
proposed union of the Congregational, United Brethren, and 
Methodist Protestant churches in the United States. The Con- 
gregationalists of Canada were generally opposed to such an 
elaborate statement as that proposed by the Presbyterians and 
finally agreed upon. The Presbyterian influence, however, 
carried the adoption of the declaration, and the Congrega- 
tion alists secured a concession in the third section of the fol- 
lowing declaration of the minister's relation to doctrine: 

III. — The Relations of a Minister to the Doctrines of the Church 

1. The duty of final inquiry into the personal character, doc- 
trinal beliefs, and general fitness of candidates for the Ministry 
presenting themselves for ordination or for reception as ministers 
of The United Church, shall be laid upon the Conference. 

2. These candidates shall be examined on the Statement of 
Doctrine of The United Church, and shall, before ordination, satisfy 
the examining body that they are in essential agreement therewith, 
and that as ministers of the Church they accept the statement as in 
substance agreeable to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. 

3. Further, in the ordination service before the Conference 
these candidates shall answer the following questions: 

(1) Do you believe yourself to be a child of God, through faith 
in our Lord Jesus Christ? 

(2) Do you believe yourself to be called of God to the office of 
the Christian ministry, and your chief motives to be zeal for the 
glory of God, love for the Lord Jesus Christ, and desire for the 
salvation of men? 

(3) Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain suf- 
ficiently all doctrines required for eternal salvation in our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and are you resolved out of the said Scriptures to in- 
struct the people committed to your charge, and to teach nothing 
which is not agreeable thereto? 

With the foregoing declaration, which makes Holy Scrip- 
ture and not the creed the test of a minister's qualification, 



ENGLISH AND CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 191 

the following doctrinal statement has been approved, and may 
become the basis of a Canadian union of churches, so far as 
such a union has its basis in doctrine : 

THE UNITED CHURCH OF CANADA 

The Basis of Union 

As agreed upon by the joint committee of the Presbyterian, Metho- 
dist and Congregational Churches 

GENERAL 

1. The, name of the Church formed by the union of the Presby- 
terian, Methodist, and Congregational Churches in Canada, shall be 
"The United Church of Canada." 

2. It shall be the policy of The United Church to foster the 
spirit of unity in the hope that this sentiment of unity may in due 
time, so far as Canada is concerned, take shape in a church which 
may fittingly be described as national. • 

DOCTRINE 

We, the representatives of the Presbyterian, the Methodist, and 
the Congregational branches of the Church of Christ in Canada, do 
hereby set forth the substance of the Christian faith, as commonly 
held among us. In doing so, we build upon the foundation laid by 
the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief 
corner-stone. We affirm our belief in the Scriptures of the. Old and 
New Testaments as the primary source and ultimate standard of 
Christian faith and life. We acknowledge the teaching of the great 
Creeds of the ancient Church. We further maintain, our allegiance 
to the evangelical doctrines of the Reformation, as set forth in 
common in the doctrinal standards adopted by the Presbyterian 
Church in Canada, by the Congregational Union of Ontario and 
Quebec, and by the Methodist Church. We present the accompany- 
ing statement as a brief summary of our common faith, and com- 
mend it to the studious attention of the members and adherents of 
the negotiating Churches, as in substance agreeable to the teaching 
of the Holy Scriptures. 

Article 1. — Of God. — We believe in the one only living and true 
God, a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in His being and 
perfections; the Lord Almighty, who is love, most just in all His 
ways, most glorious in holiness, unsearchable in wisdom, plenteous 
in mercy, full of compassion, and abundant in goodness and truth. 
We worship Him in the unity of the Godhead and the mystery of 
the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, three 
persons, of the same substance, equal in power and glory. 

Article II. — Of Revelation. — We believe that God has revealed 
Himself in nature, in history, and in the heart of man; that He has 



192 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

been graciously pleased to make clearer revelation of Himself to 
men of God who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit; and 
that in the fulness of time He has perfectly revealed Himself in 
Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, who is the brightness of the 
Father's glory and the express image of His person. We receive 
the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, given by in- 
spiration of God, as containing the only infallible rule of faith and 
life, a faithful record of God's gracious revelations, and as the sure 
witness to Christ. 

Article III. — Of the Divine Purpose. — We believe that the eter- 
nal, wise, holy and loving purpose of God so embraces all events 
that while the freedom of man is not taken away, nor is God the 
author of sin, yet in His providence He makes all things work to- 
gether in the fulfillment of His sovereign design and the manifesta- 
tion of His glory. 

Article IV. — Of Creation and Providence. — We believe that God 
is the creator, upholder and governor of all things; that He is 
above all His works and in them all; and that He made man in His 
own image, meet for fellowship with Him, free and able to choose 
between good and evil, and responsible to his Maker and Lord. 

Article V. — Of the Sin of Man. — We believe that our first parents, 
being tempted, chose evil, and so fell away from God and came un- 
der the power of sin, the penalty of which is eternal death; and 
that, by reason of this disobedience, all men are born with a sinful 
nature, that we have broken God's law and that no man can be 
saved but by His grace. 

Article VI.— Of the Grace, of God.— We believe that God, out of 
His great love for the world, has given His only begotten Son to be 
the Saviour of sinners, and in the Gospel freely offers His all- 
sufficient salvation to all men. We believe also that God, in His 
own good pleasure, gave to His Son a people, an innumerable mul- 
titude, chosen in Christ unto holiness, service and salvation. 

Article VII. — Of the Lord Jesus Christ. — We believe in and 
confess the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Mediator between God and 
man, who, being the Eternal Son of God, for us men and for our 
salvation became truly man, being conceived of the Holy Spirit and 
born of the Virgin Mary, yet without sin. Unto us He has revealed 
the Father, by His word and Spirit, making known the perfect will 
of God. For our redemption He fulfilled all righteousness, offered 
Himself a perfect sacrifice on the cross, satisfied Divine justice and 
made propitiation for the sins of the whole world. He rose from 
the dead and ascended into Heaven, where He ever intercedes for 
us. In the hearts of believers He, abides forever as the indwelling 
Christ; above us and over us all He rules; wherefore, unto Him we 
render love, obedience and adoration as our Prophet, Priest and 
King. 

Article VIII. — Of the Holy Spirit. — We believe in the Holy Spirit, 
the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the 
Son, who moves upon the hearts of men to restrain them from evil 
and to incite them unto good, and whom the Father is ever willing 
to give unto all who ask Him. We believe that He has spoken by 



ENGLISH AND CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 193 

holy men of God in making known His truth to men for their sal- 
vation; that, through our exalted Saviour, He was sent forth in 
power to convict the world of sin, to enlighten men's minds in the 
knowledge of Christ, and to persuade and enable them to obey the 
call of the Gospel; and that He abides with the Church, dwelling 
in every believer as the spirit of truth, of power, of holiness, of 
comfort and of love. 

Article IX. — Of Regeneration. — We believe in the necessity of 
regeneration, whereby we are made new creatures in Christ Jesus by 
the Spirit of God, who imparts spiritual life by the gracious and 
mysterious operation of His power, using as the ordinary means 
the truths of His word and the ordinances of divine appointment in 
ways agreeable to the nature of man. 

Article X. — Of Faith and Repentance. — We believe that faith in 
Christ is a saving grace whereby we receive Him, trust in Him and 
rest upon Him alone for salvation, as He is offered to us in the Gos- 
pel, and that this saving faith is always accompanied by repentance, 
wherein we confess and forsake our sins with full purpose of and 
endeavor after a new obedience to God. 

Article XI. — Of Justification and Sonship. — We believe that God, 
on the sole ground of the perfect obedience and sacrifice of Christ, 
pardons those who by faith receive Him as their Saviour and Lord, 
accepts them as righteous and bestows upon them the adoption of 
sons, with a right to all the, privilegese therein implied, including 
a conscious assurance of their sonship. 

Article XII. — Of Sanctification. — We believe that those who are 
regenerated and justified grow in the likeness of Christ through 
fellowship with Him, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and obed- 
ience to the truth; that a holy life is the fruit and evidence of saving 
faith; and the believer's hope of continuance in such a life is in 
the preserving grace of God. And we believe that in this growth in 
grace Christians may attain that maturity and full assurance of 
faith whereby the love of God is made perfect in us. 

Article XIII. — Of Prayer. — We believe that we are encouraged 
to draw near to God, our heavenly Father, in the name of His Son, 
Jesus Christ, and on our own behalf and that of others to pour out 
our hearts humbly yet freely before Him, as becomes His beloved 
children, giving Him the honour and praise due to His holy name, 
asking Him to glorify Himself on earth as in heaven, confessing 
unto Him our sins and seeking of Him every gift needful for this 
life and for our everlasting salvation. We believe also that, inas- 
much as all true prayer is prompted by His Spirit, He Will in 
response thereto grant to us every blessing according to His un- 
searchable wisdom and the riches of His grace in Jesus Christ. 

Article XIV.— Of the Law of God.— We believe that the moral 
law of God, summarized in the Ten Commandments, testified to by 
the prophets and unfolded in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, 
stands forever in truth and equity, and is not made void by faith, 
but on the contrary is established thereby. We believe that God re- 
quires of every man to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly 



194 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Math God; and that only through this harmony with the will of God 
shall be fulfilled that brotherhood of man wherein the kingdom of 
God is to be made manifest. 

Article XV. — Of the Church. — We acknowledge one holy catholic 
Church, the innumerable company of saints of every age and nation, 
who, being united by the Holy Spirit to Christ their Head are one 
body in Him and have, communion with their Lord and with one an- 
other. Further, we receive it as thei will of Christ that His Church 
on earth should exist as a visible and sacred brotherhood, consisting 
of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to Him, 
together with their children, and other baptized children, and or- 
ganized for the confession of His name, for the public worship of 
God, for the, administration of the sacraments, for the upbuilding of 
the saints, and for the universal propagation of the Gospel ; and we 
acknowledge as a part, more or less pure, of this universal brother- 
hood, every particular Church throughout the world which profess 
this faith in Jesus Christ and obedience to Him as divine Lord 
and Saviour. 

Article XVI. — Of the Sacraments. — We acknowledge two sacra- 
ments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, which were instituted by 
Christ, to be of perpetual obligation as signs and seals of the cove- 
nant ratified in His precious blood, as means of grace, by which, 
working in us, He doth not only quicken, but also strengthen and 
comfort our faith in Him, and as ordinances through the observance 
of which His Church is to confess her Lord and be visibly distin- 
guished from the rest of the world. 

(1) Baptism with water into the name of the Father and of the 
Son and of the Holy Spirit is the sacrament by which are signified 
and sealed our union to Christ and participation in the blessings of 
the new covenant. The proper subjects of baptism are believers, 
and infants presented by their parents or guardians in the Christian 
faith. In the, latter case the parents or guardians should train up 
their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and 
should expect that their children will, by the operation of the Holy 
Spirit, receive the benefits which the sacrament is designed and 
fitted to convey. The Church is under the most solemn obligation to 
provide for their Christian instruction. 

(2) The Lord's Supper is the sacrament of communion with 
Christ and with His people, in which bread and wine are given and 
received in thankful remembrance of Him and His sacrifice on the 
cross; and they who in faith receive the same do, after a spiritual 
manner, partake of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to 
their comfort, nourishment and growth in grace. All may be ad- 
mitted to the Lord's Supper who make a credible profession of their 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and of obedience to His law. 

Article XVII.— Of the Ministry.— We believe that Jesus Christ, 
as the Supreme Head of the Church, has appointed therein a minis- 
try of the word and sacraments, and calls men to this ministry; 
that the Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, recognizes 



ENGLISH AND CANADIAN CONFESSIONS 195 

anOi chooses those whom He calls, and should thereupon duly ordain 
them to the work of the ministry. 

Article XVIII. — Of Church Order and Fellowship. — We believe 
that the Supreme and only Head of the Church is the Lord Jesus 
Christ; that its worship, teaching, discipline and government should 
be administered according to His will by persons chosen for their 
fitness and duly set apart to their office; and that although the vis- 
ible Church may contain unworthy members and is liable to err, 
yet believers ought not lightly to separate themselves from its com- 
munion, but are to live in fellowship with their brethren, which 
fellowship is to be extended, as God gives opportunity, to all who 
in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus. 

Article XIX. — Of the Resurrection, the Last Judgment and the 
Future Life. — We believe that there shall be a resurrection of the 
dead, both of the just and of the unjust, through the power of the 
Son of God, who shall come to judge the living and the dead; that 
the finally impenitent shall go away into eternal punishment and 
the righteous into life eternal. 

Article XX. — Of Christian Service and the Final Triumph. — We 
believe that it is our duty as disciples and servants of Christ, to fur- 
ther the extension of His kingdom, to do good unto all men, to main- 
tain the public and private worship of God, to hallow the Lord's 
Day, to preserve the inviolability of marriage and the sanctity of 
the family, to uphold the just authority of the State, and so to live 
in all honesty, purity and charity that our lives shall testify of 
Christ We joyfully receive the word of Christ, bidding His people 
to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, declaring 
unto them that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Him- 
self, and that He will have all men to be saved, and come to the 
knowledge of the truth. We confidently believe that by His power 
and grace all His enemies shall finally be overcome, and the king- 
doms of this world be made the kingdom of our God and of His 
Christ. 



VIII. THE DAYTON DECLARATION 

The National Council at its session in Des Moines, in 1904, 
gave its Committee on Comity, Federation, and Unity, in- 
struction on two special subjects: (1), To advance the feder- 
ation of Christian churches in this country; and (2), To ad- 
vance the union proposed between the Congregationalists, the 
United Brethren, and the Methodist Protestants. 

On the subject of union with other denominations the 
National Council took the folloAving action : 

"Resolved, That this National Council heartily approves 
the purpose and the general plan for the closer union of the 
Methodist Protestants, United Brethren and Congregational 
denominations; and that we accept the plan as presented by 
the committees of the three denominations, with the earnest 
hope that it may lead to a complete organic union. ' ' 

Other action by the Council provided for the election of 
delegates and the first meeting of the General Council of the 
three denominations. In accordance with these directions the 
committees of the three denominations on Time and Place met 
in Pittsburg, Pa., August 20, 1905, and agreed to call the 
General Council of the three bodies at Dayton, Ohio, February 
7-9, 1906. Accordingly the General Council met at that time 
and place, delegates having been appointed, in accordance 
with the direction of the last Council, by the Provisional Com- 
mittee, the Congregational delegates present being 110 in 
number. On the opening of this General Council a resolution 
was presented by the Rev. T. H. Lewis, in behalf of the Metho- 
dist Protestants, declaring that "our first and chief business 
is to provide for the organic union of these three bodies, ' ' and 
appointing large commiteees from each of these bodies on 

196 



THE DAYTON DECLARATION 197 

Doctrine, Polity and Vested Interests, for the purpose of ac- 
complishing this result. Three committees of 21 were thus 
appointed by each denomination, and were divided in each de- 
nomination into sub-committees of seven each. They met 
together, those of the three denominations on Doctrine, thus 21 
in all ; the three on Polity in the same way, and the three on 
Vested Interests. After much consideration, and the approval 
of each separate report by the combined committees, 63 in all, 
they were presented to the General Council, and voted on by 
the delegates of each denomination meeting separately. In 
this way the three denominations approved the report of the 
Committee on Doctrine; that on Polity was accepted as the 
basis for further consideration by the Committee; that on 
Vested Interests, which simply declared that they found no 
insuperable obstacles and desired time for further investiga- 
tion, was approved. The subject of a name for the united 
body was left to a separate committee. The committees were 
continued, and with much enthusiasm and deep gratitude to 
God for the success of their labors the General Council ad- 
journed to meet at the call of the chairman, the three commit- 
tees on Creed, Polity and Vested Interests being authorized to 
continue their work in the meantime and report at the ad- 
journed meting. 

The reports of the three committees, as accepted by the 
General Council, were widely published in the denominational 
journals and received much attention, discussion being espec- 
ially directed to that on Polity. 

The second General Council of the three churches was 
called to meet in Chicago, March 19-21, 1907, to hear the re- 
port of their committees. There were present 118 delegates 
appointed from the Congregational churches, and a propor- 
tionate number from the two other denominations. After full 
discussion for three days, by the sub-committees on Legal Ee- 
lations, Publication Operations, Benevolent Societies and Edu- 
cational Institutions, herewith appended, and the Committee 



198 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

on Polity, and the further discussion of the reports in the full 
committee of sixty-three, in the presence of all the members of 
the Council who desired to attend, the following "Act of 
Union," reported by the special Committee on Polity, ap- 
proved by the Committee of sixty-three in accord with the 
report of the Committees on Vested Interests and Legal Ques- 
tions, and embracing the recommendations of the committees 
on Name and Doctrinal Statement, was unanimously adopted 
by the Council and recommended for adoption by the national 
bodies of the three denominations, ass follows : 

ACT OF UNION 

Between the Congregational Churches, the Church of the United 
Brethren in Christ, and the Methodist Protestant Church. 

We, the representatives of the Congregational Churches, the 
Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and the Methodist Pro- 
testant Church, believing that we can do more to promote the work 
of our Lord Jesus Christ in the world by uniting than by continu- 
ing our separate existence as denominations as heretofore, and 
being of one accord in the desire to realize our Lord's prayer, "that 
they all may be one," having already at the first meeting of this 
council entered into a common Declaration of Faith hereinafter set 
forth, do now, in order to bring about an organic union, propose 
to our respective denominations the Articles of Agreement herein- 
after set forth. 

DECLARATION OF FAITH 

We, the representatives of the Congregational Churches, the 
Church of the United Brethren in Christ, and the Methodist Pro- 
testant Church, rejoice at this time to enter into union with one an- 
other, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the love of 
God, and for fellowship in the Holy Spirit. In this solemn act of 
faith and obedience towards the great Head of the Church, we do 
most humbly and confidently make confession of our faith and 
heartily renew the consecration of our lives to Him and to the ser- 
vice of mankind. 

1. Our bond of union consists in that inward personal faith in 
Jesus Christ as our divine Saviour and Lord on which all our 
churches are founded ; also in our acceptance of the Holy Scriptures 
as the inspired source of our faith and the supreme standard of 
Christian truth; and further, in our consent to the teaching of the 
ancient symbols of the undivided Church, and to that substance of 
Christian doctrine which is common to the creeds and confessions 



THE DAYTON DECLARATION 199 

which we have inherited from the past. But we humbly depend, as 
did our fathers, on the continued guidance of the Holy Spirit to lead 
us into all the truth. 

2. We believe that God, the Father and Lord of all, did send 
his son Jesus Christ to redeem us from sin and death by the per- 
fect obedience of his holy will in life, by the sacrifice of himself on 
the cross, and by his glorious resurrection from the dead. 

3. We believe that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God and Christ, 
moves in the hearts of men, calling them through the gospel to 
repentance and faith, awakening in them spiritual sorrow for past 
sin and confidence in the mercy of God, together with new desires 
and a new power to obey his will. 

4. We believe that those of the sons of men who, hearing God's 
call of divine love, do heartily put their trust in the Saviour whom 
his love provided, are assured by his word of his most fatherly for- 
giveness, of his free and perfect favor, of the presence of his spirit 
in their hearts, and of a blessed immortality. 

5. We believe that all who are, through faith, the children 
of God, constitute the Church of Christ, the spiritual body of which 
he is the head; that he has appointed them to proclaim his gospel 
to all mankind, to manifest in their character and conduct the fruit 
of his spirit; that he has granted them freedom to create such of- 
fices and institutions as may in each generation serve unto those 
ends, and that for the comfort of our faith he has given to his 
Church the sacred ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 

6. We believe that according to Christ's law men of the Chris- 
tian faith exist for the service of man, not only in holding forth the 
word of life, but in the support of works and institutions of pity 
and charity, in the maintenance of human freedom, in the deliver- 
ance of all those that are oppressed, in the enforcement of civic 
justice, in the rebuke of all unrighteousness. 

Possessed of these convictions, both as truths which we do 
most firmly hold and acts of faith which spring from our hearts, we 
do, therefore, in the happy consummation of this union, and in the 
name of all the churches which we represent, commit ourselves, 
body, soul, and spirit to the faith, love, and service of him who made 
us and saved us, the everlasting God, our Father, Redeemer, and 
Lord. To him be ascribed all praise, and dominion, and glory, 
world without end. Amen. 

This Declaration of Faith, almost if not entirely the work 
of President W. Douglas Mackenzie, of Hartford Theological 
Seminary, met with immediate favor, and had the merger of 
the three denominations taken place, this would have been 
their confession of faith. 

The Committee on Comity, Federation and Unity pre- 
sented a full report to the National Council in Cleveland. 



200 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

The action thus taken was widely published in the denom- 
inational press and elsewhere. The Congregational delegates 
in attendance appointed a committee, consisting of Dr. Wash- 
ington Gladden, President W. Douglas Mackenzie and Dr. 
Asher Anderson, to prepare a letter to the churches detailing 
what was done and what was its purpose and bearing. This 
was done and the letter was widely distributed. Various con- 
ferences and churches took action on the subject in 1907, and 
recommended the following action: 

Voted: That this National Council heartily approves the 
proposed Act of Union between the Congregational Churches, 
the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and the Methodist 
Protestant Churches and recommends that our conference and 
churches and our benevolent societies accept such corporate 
union between the three denominations. 

Voted: That the Committee on Federation, Comity and 
Unity be authorized to act in behalf of this National Council 
for the purpose of aiding in the consummation of this proposed 
union and in the further advancement of the cause of comity, 
federation or unity of our various Christian bodies. 

The proposed merger, however, did not meet with favor in 
the Council on the terms proposed. The final action at Cleve- 
land was embodied in the report of a Committee of twenty- 
eight, as follows : 

REPORT OP THE COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-EIGHT 

The Committee of Twenty-Eight, to which was referred the re- 
port of the Committee on Comity, Federation, and Unity, begs leave 
to report that it has had that document under prolonged consider- 
ation. We express our high appreciation of the admirable rehearsal 
of the Federation movement and the Tri-Church Union movement, 
and the distinguished services of the committee to both causes. The 
resolution concerning federation, presented by the committee, has 
already beeu reported by the Council. For the rest, your committee 
now reporting recommends the adoption by the Council of the fol- 
lowing minutes and resolutions: 

The National Council of the Congregational Churches of the, 
United States, in session at Cleveland, Ohio, October 8-17, 1907, hav- 
ing heard a remarkable volume of testimony from all parts of the 



THE DAYTON DECLARATION 201 

country, hereby records its conviction that our churches will go 
forward to consummate union with the Church of the United Breth- 
ren in Christ and the Methodist Protestant Church. 

We recognize in the Act of Union adopted by the General Coun- 
cil of the United Churches at Chicago the fundamental principles 
by which such union must be accomplished. The aim of that act 
is the desire of our churches. The act provides for a representa- 
tive council of the united churches, combines their benevolent acti- 
vities, and conserves their vested interests. It makes provision for 
the gradual amalgamation of their state and local organizations, 
leaving the people of each locality free to choose their own times 
and methods for the completion of such unions. It contemplates, 
as the result of a continued fellowship of worship and work, a 
blending of the three denominations into one. This is the end to 
which the Act of Union looks forward, and these are essential 
means of its accomplishment. 

We recognize, that, for the consummation of this union, each 
denomination is prepared to modify its administrative forms. Among 
our ministers and churches there have arisen divergent opinions 
both as to the interpretation of certain clauses and as to the effect 
of certain provisions in the, Act of Union; while of some details 
therein proposed important criticisms have been made. 

We recognize, further, that the other church bodies, when they 
convene for consideration of the Act of Union, may likewise find 
that certain of its features can be improved. 

We, therefore, invite the other two denominations to unite with 
us in referring the Act of Union to the, General Council of the 
United Churches, to afford opportunity for perfecting the plan of 
union; the General Council to report its results to the national 
body of each denomination. 

We also recommend the adoption of the following resolutions: 

1. That the Committee on Comity, Federation, and Unity to 
be appointed by this Council be authorized to act with representa- 
tives of the other two denominations in procuring the, reassembling 
of the General Council of the United Churches, and also to act in 
behalf of the National Council in aiding the consummation of the 
proposed union, and in the further advancement of the cause of 
Comity, Federation, and Unity among various Christian bodies. 

2. That, in case the committee on Comity, Federation, and 
Unity find it desirable to add to its members for special service, it 
have authority to do so. 

3. That our membership in subsequent meetings of the General 
Council of the United Churches be thoroughly representative of 
our churches and elect in their state organizations, the securing of 
such elections on a proper ratio of representation in the various 
state bodies, and the filling of vacancies, to be in the hands of the 
Provisional Committee. 

4. That a committee consisting of Rev. Drs. Washington Glad- 
den, William Douglas Mackenzie, and William Hayes Ward be ap- 
pointed to present this action to the United Brethren and the 
Methodist Protestant church. 



202 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

The report is signed by all the members of the committee who 
were present at the conclusion of the discussion, namely: 

Rev. Nehemiah Boynton, Chairman. 

Rev. William E. Barton, Secretary. 
Rev. C. S. Nash 
Rev. Geo. E. Hall 
Rev. C. S. Mills 
Rev. Washington Gladden 
Rev. W. D. Mackenzie 
Rev. J. W. Bradshaw 
Mr. C. H. Rutan 
Rev. C. E. Jefferson 
Rev. S. B. L. Penrose 
Rev. J. W. Strong 
Hon. J. M. Whitehead 
Rev. C. L. Morgan 
Mr. Rossiter W. Raymond 
Rev. F. S. Moxom 
Rev. A. T. Perry 
Hon. J. H. Perry 
Rev. W. H. Day 
Rev. H. H. Proctor 
Mr. W. H. Laird 
Mr. E. P. Johnson 
Mr. C. M. Vial 
Mr. C. C. Morgan 

The two other denominations then withdrew from the ne- 
gotiations, and the proposed union came to a halt. Techni- 
cally, the General Council of the three churches is still in 
existence, ready to go forward to organic union. Practically 
all thought of such union is now dismissed. 

With the ending of the negotiations looking toward the 
union of the three denominations, the Dayton Declaration 
became less prominent as a Congregational Confession. It 
was several times proposed that it be incorporated in the Na- 
tional Council Constitution as the expression of faith of that 
body, but such use of it did not appear expedient, and a new 
confession of faith at length came into being in 1913. 



IX. THE KANSAS CITY CREED OF 1913 

The Creed of 1913, sometimes called the Kansas City- 
Creed, grew out of a revision of the Constitution of the Na- 
tional Council, prepared by a Commission of Nineteen on 
Polity appointed by the Council at Boston in 1910. The Com- 
mission consisted of the following : 

President Frank K. Sanders, D. D., Kansas, Chairman 

Rev. William E. Barton, D. D., Illinois, Secretary 

President Charles S. Nash, D. D., California 

Professor Williston Walker, D. D., Connecticut 

Mr. William W. Mills, Ohio. 

Rev. Henry A. Stimson, D. D., New York 

Rev. Oliver Huckel, D. D., Maryland 

Dr. Lucien C. Warner, LL. D., New York 

Rev. Charles S. Mills, D. D., Missouri 

Rev. Rockwell H. Potter, D. D., Connecticut 

Hon. John M. Whitehead, Wisconsin 

Mr. Frank Kimball, Illinois 

Hon. Henry H. Beardsley, Missouri 

Prof. Henry H. Kelsey, D. D., Ohio 

President Edward D. Eaton, D. D., Wisconsin 

Rev. Nehemiah Boynton, D. D., New York 

Hon. Samuel B. Capen, LL. D., Massachusetts 

Hon. Arthur H. Wellman, Massachusetts 

Rev. Raymond Calkins, D. D., Maine. 

The Committee on Constitution consisted of Rev. William 
E. Barton, D. D., chairman, President Edward D. Eaton, D.D., 
and Senator John M. Whitehead. The Commission made its 

203 



204 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

first report in a pamphlet distributed early in January, 1-911, 
in which the article on " Faith" was as follows: 

Believing in the love of God our Father, and in the revelation 
of that love in Jesus Christ our Lord, we confess our faith in Him; 
and living together in the fellowship and service of the spirit of 
God, will strive to know our duty as taught in the Holy Scriptures, 
and to walk in the ways of the Lord, made known and to be made 
known to us; and with loyalty to God, and love for all mankind, 
will labor for that righteousness which is profitable, for the life that 
now is, and has promise for the life everlasting. 

This was approved by the Commission and passed almost 
without criticism when circulated at large. For something 
like eighteen months the matter of the confession of faith de- 
veloped practically no discussion until May 1912, when the Chi- 
cago Ministers' Union recommended that the Confession bo 
made more Christological. 

The publication of this resolution was the beginning of a 
general discussion of the Confession of Faith, as the result of 
which there appeared a general desire that the declaration be 
put into creedal form. It was then rewritten and approved by 
the Commission at a meeting in Detroit, in January, 1913, 
and again published for discussion. Interest in the Confession 
of Faith grew steadily, until that which at the beginning had 
been a quite inconspicuous part of the Committee's work be- 
came at the end the center of chief interest. After further 
discussion, and some amendment, it was adopted by the Na- 
tional Council at Kansas City, October 25, 1913. Though 
prepared with sole reference to its availability as a part of a 
business document, it has proved acceptable to the churches 
for other and varied uses, and is finding increasing favor by 
reason of its comprehensiveness and general adaptability. This 
Confession is as follows: 



We believe in God the Father, infinite in wisdom, goodness and 
love; and in Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord and Saviour, who for 
us and our salvation lived and died and rose again and liveth ever- 
more; and in the Holy Spirit, who taketh of the things of Christ and 
revealeth them to us, renewing, comforting and inspiring the 



THE KANSAS CITY CREED OF 1913 205 

souls of men. We are united in striving to know the will of God 
as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and in our purpose to walk in 
the ways of the Lord, made known or to be made known to us. We 
hold it to be the mission of the Church of Christ to proclaim the 
gospel to all mankind, exalting the worship of the one true God, 
and laboring for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of jus- 
tice, the reign of peace and the realization of human brotherhood. 
Depending, as did our fathers, upon the continued guidance of the 
Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, we work and pray for the 
transformation of the world into the kingdom of God; and we look 
with faith for the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting. 

The opening sentence of the Constitution of the National 
Council declares "the steadfast allegiance of the churches 
composing this Council to the faith which our fathers con- 
fessed, which from age to age has found its expression in the 
historic creeds of the Church universal and of this commun- 
ion." It has been asked whether there exists any conflict 
between this sentence and the creed itself. No such conflict 
exists. The allegiance thus declared is not to the creeds them- 
selves, but to the essential faith which from age to age has 
been expressed, more or less adequately, in these earlier creeds. 
Of that same essential faith this latest creed is intended to be 
a simple expression. As men in earlier days confessed their 
faith, employing the language of their own times, ' ' We having 
the same spirit of faith," "believe and also speak" in the 
language of our own generation. We dip our cups in the 
same stream from which they drank; but our faith is not in 
the cup, though we do not despise either their cup or our 
own; our faith is in the Fountain of truth, which has more 
of depth and volume than either their creed or ours could 
measure. 



X. SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 

A recent and very wide survey of Congregational usage 
with respect to the employment of creeds and covenants may 
be briefly summarized. To the following statements there 
may be some few exceptions, but if so they are infrequent. 

In the beginning no Congregational church had a creed. 
Both in England and in America, as well as while in exile on 
the continent, the Congregational churches were founded upon 
covenants entirely free from doctrinal affirmations. While 
these churches did not underestimate the value of correct 
thinking in doctrinal matters, they never made such thinking 
the test of fitness for membership in Christ's Church. They 
considered themselves in essential agreement, doctrinally, with 
other Christians, and had no thought or purpose of founding 
sectarian churches. This may be said to summarize a usage 
practically universal in Congregationalism for more than two 
hundred years from the rise of Congregational churches in 
England to the outbreak of the Unitarian controversy. 

The early Baptist covenants appear generally to have been 
signed by members of the church. The Congregational cove- 
nants as a rule were not signed, but verbal assent to them was 
given. They were changed when new pastors came, and now 
and then a pastor thought himself able to improve upon the 
form of covenant he had previously employed and wrote a 
new one. It would appear that in Robert Browne 's church a 
written covenant was read aloud and each section was ex- 
plained by the minister, and then assented to by the brethren. 
Francis Johnson's covenant, of 1591, was written to be signed. 
Some of the early covenants contain the words, "We whose 
names are underwritten" but without signatures. The Old 

206 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 207 

South covenant would appear from its form to have been in- 
tended for signature, but was not subscribed. In a few in- 
stances the covenant was signed by the original members of the 
church, but those who joined later signified their assent to it 
verbally. 

We have seen in what manner the members of the London 
church, established by Henry Jacob, consented to their cove- 
nant, standing in a circle with their hands joined. 

It appears that the covenant document was generally 
written on a loose sheet of paper from which it could conven- 
iently be read by the minister. Sometimes, as in the case of the 
Salem church, the minister wrote out as many copies of the 
covenant as there were members to be received. 

There appeared in London in 1647, "A brief narration 
of the practices of the churches in New England." John 
Cotton quotes it in his ' ' Way. ' ' In this it is stated that after 
members have made their individual confession of faith ' ' they 
enter into a sacred and solemn covenant .... agreed on be- 
fore amongst themselves, then read it before the assembly, and 
then either subscribe their hands to it, or testify by word of 
mouth their agreement thereto.' ' This shows that such cove- 
nants were occasionally subscribed, but Lechford's ''Plain 
Dealing" gives what was undoubtedly the rule: "And then 
the elder calleth all them that are to be admitted by name, 
and rehearseth the covenant on their part to them, which they 
publicly say they do promise by the help of God to perform. 
And then the elder, in the name of the church, promiseth the 
church's part of the covenant, to the new admitted members. 
So they are received or admitted. ' ' 

We are reliably informed that when occasion seemed to 
justify it, a silent or implicit assent was accepted. In short, 
while the covenant idea was held in the very highest regard, 
there appears to have been little concern as to the form of the 
document or the manner of its acceptance. A reasonable 
degree of flexibility prevailed. 



208 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

In. its original intent, the covenant once assented to re- 
mained perpetually in force and needed no renewal, but it 
often occured that covenants were renewed, with or without 
change in their phraseology. Sometimes a new pastor would 
ask the church to join him in a new and perhaps more ex- 
plicit covenant, as Hugh Peter did at Salem. Sometimes a 
church, feeling that it had not been faithful to its covenant, 
would voluntarily renew the covenant. We have two accounts 
of the renewal of the Norwich covenant in 1669 and 1675, 
both recorded by Joseph Rix : 

And in the Conclusion of the fast day [Dec. 28, 1669] it was 
moued by some brethren and so propounded by the Pastor to the 
Church to renue their Couenant which was asented vnto by the 
whole brethren present (except br. Kinge & br. Will Hardy who 
did both declare their desentt), notwithstanding the Church did pro- 
ceed in the worke And the Pastor haueing mentioned the sume of 
the Couenant in shortt it was asented vnto by the whoUe by the 
signs of Lifting vp their hand except the two brethren before men- 
tioned. 

And towards the Close of y e day [Oct. 13, 1675] (as it was 
formerly Concluded) the Church did renue their Couenant after 
this manner, the Couenant was read out of this booke Contayning 
seuerall Articells being the same Couenant and Articells of Agree- 
ment that was entred into at y e first sitting down of this church 
in y e year of our Lord 1644, and after the reading thereof the whole 
church (then present) both brethren and sisters did, as a sign of 
their mutuall Couenant lift up their right hands, and so the meeting 
was concluded with prayer and thanksgiving vnto the Lord. — "Some 
Account of the Nonconformist Churches at Hail Weston & St. 
Neots," etc., pp. 51, 52, and/ 54, 55. 

It is interesting to find now and then a note which indi- 
cates with what good sense exceptions were made to the general 
custom of oral confession. In 1630, the church at Charlestown 
was organized and it later became the First Church in Boston. 
John Cotton, the pastor, made a profession of his own views, 
but asked for his wife that she be not required to submit to a 
public examination ; whereupon she was asked if she assented 
to the confession made by her husband ; and it is to be inferred 
that she did. Cotton Mather tells us that some were admitted 
by expressing their consent to the covenant, that others an- 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 209 

swered questions propounded to them, and others wrote their 
own views, or delivered them orally, "Which diversity was 
perhaps more beautiful than would have been a more punc- 
tilious uniformity." Magnalia, I., iv., 7). We find an in- 
stance of a Mr. Lindall of Boston who wrote his profession of 
faith because "he had not an audible voice" and the pastor 
read it for him. 

Our oldest Congregational covenants are mutual cove- 
nants, framed to be used at the organization of a church ; but 
it is evident that before long, covenants were drawn in which 
response was made on behalf of the church. The oldest record 
we have of this is in Lechf ord 's ' ' Plain Dealing, ' ' published 
in London in 1642, in which he declares the custom in New 
England to have been that after the newly elected member 
had ascented to the covenant "the elder in the name of the 
church promiseth the church's part of the covenant to the new 
admitted members. ' ' It is interesting to find that thus early 
a response was made on behalf of the church. It appears, how- 
ever, that in a great many churches there was no such response. 
Gilman in his article in The Congregational Quarterly in 1862, 
states that the Fitchburg formulas had no response of the 
church to the members, and that there was no such response 
in the First Church of Bangor before 1850, nor in Norwich 
First prior to 1817 or perhaps before 1825, nor in Norwich 
Second until 1829, nor in Torrington, Connecticut, in its Man- 
ual issued in 1852. The Eutland, Vermont, association in 
1838 recommended "that the church rise in token of their 
cordial approbation, while the minister says, 'We do now 
publically declare our reception of you as a member of the 
Christian church, in full communion.' " 

The churches West of New England seem quite uniformly 
to have had responses indicative of the reciprocal relation- 
ship established by the covenant. This appears to have been 
the case in Chicago First, Jackson and Detroit, Mich., and 



210 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

other of the older churches, whose manuals were in frequent 
use as models for other churches. 

Now and then, we find a church in which the church part 
of the covenant was not read by the pastor alone, but recited 
in unison by the whole body ,of the church membership. This 
has been the custom in First Church of Oak Park since its 
organization in 1863. 

The Unitarian movement, while spiritually a secession 
from historic Congregationalism, became, by virtue of the un- 
righteous Dedham decision, a virtual secession of orthodox 
Congregationalism from churches that had become Unitarian. 
The old churches in becoming Unitarian retained their historic 
covenants in general without change, and the newly organized 
orthodox churches a£ a rule adopted creeds and required as- 
sent to them on the part of all their members. This was a 
natural but violent reaction against a condition which had 
cost the denomination the loss of so many churches and min- 
isters, and it represented a departure from historic Congre- 
gationalism. 

Center Church, New Haven, has undergone quite an evo- 
lution so far as creed and covenant is concerned. It was es- 
tablished by John Davenport upon the basis of a simple non- 
theological covenant, as was the case with the Boston and 
Salem churches. Later, a theological creed was introduced 
and was applied as a test of membership. 

During the days of the Unitarian controversy, this creed 
became more and more Calvinistic. Later it was revised and 
finally the Apostles' Creed was substituted. This would not 
have been entirely objectionable, except for the fact that can- 
didates, uniting on confession of faith, were required to ex- 
press their belief through the medium of the Apostles' Creed. 
This, many persons, who were excellent Christians, were un- 
able to do, and as a result a great number of men and women 
— some of the best in the community, thoroughly devoted 
to religion and loyal to Jesus Christ — were not church mem- 
bers. 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 211 

Several years ago, when Davenport and Center Church 
united, the creedal test was entirely removed and the church 
went back again to a simple covenant, similar to that upon 
which it had been founded. 

The creeds in effect at the time of this change were not 
abrogated. They were simply removed as tests. In other 
words, Center Church has held that there are two factors in- 
volved in church membership. In the first place there is that 
which is required of the candidate, and in this the church 
holds with the old Cambridge Platform that ' ' The least meas- 
ure of faith should be considered sufficient to render the candi- 
date eligible to church membership, provided he show the 
Christian spirit. ' ' In the second place, there is that which the 
church offers to the candidate, and in this the church seeks 
to offer all that the past history of the Christian church can 
give. 

In the history of our denomination, Park Street Church in 
Boston has an important, and for the purposes of this nar- 
rative, a distinguished and unique place. 

Park Street Church was organized at a time when all 
our oldest Congregational churches in Boston, with the sin- 
gle exception of the Old South, had swung or were swinging 
into the Unitarian movement. Its services to the cause of 
orthodox Christianity can never be overrated, and it was 
natural that at that time it should have adopted terms of ad- 
mission to membership based on doctrinal assent. It is proba- 
bly this which caused the Old South and Federal Street to 
decline to participate in its public services of recognition. The 
creed which it adopted in 1811 was written by its first pastor, 
Dr. Griffin (See Memoir of Dr. Griffin i, 102-6.) was replaced 
in 1873 by a much more simple statement of belief ; but while 
this simpler form sufficed as the basis for admission to mem- 
bership, the church still required its minister and deacons to 
subscribe to the original statement of 1811. 



212 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

That the plan adopted by Park Street involved a radical 
departure from historic Congregational precedence is beyond 
question. The founders of Park Street believed that the older 
system had proved inadequate to prevent the rise of Unitarian- 
ism, and that a new method involving stiff doctrinal conditions 
of membership was necessary. It was, however, not the lax- 
ness of the covenants which produced Unitarianism, but the 
hyper-Calvinism of the preaching of that period. It is a ques- 
tion therefore whether the right remedy was found for an ad- 
mittedly grave evil. Commenting upon the organization of 
Park Street and the requirements for membership, Mr. Hill 
in his history of the Old South says : 

1 ' Until this time the terms of admission to membership in 
the churches of Boston had been plain and simple — repentance 
toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Candidates 
had been required, not to give definite and particular assent 
to a system of divinity embodied in a dogmatic creed, but to 
enter into a covenant in the exercise of a living faith, and in 
a spirit of holy consecration, in solemn and beautiful language, 
adopted by the fathers when the broad foundations of New 
England Congregationalism were laid. It has been well said 
that creeds are for testimony, not for tests ; but the new church 
was established on the principle that they are for tests, as well 
as testimony. It not only declared its adherance to the doc- 
trines of religion as they are 'in general clearly and happily 
expressed' in the Westminister shorter Catechism, and in the 
Confession of faith of 1680, but it formulated these doctrines 
in a symbol of its own, emphasizing especially the tri-person- 
ality of the Godhead, election (with its necessary correlary — 
reprobation), and imputed righteousness. And it went fur- 
ther : It required subscription both to the general statements 
and to its own particular confession, as a condition precedent 
to membership. " — ii^ 341. 

A thoughtful survey of the situation with respect to creed 
subscription as a condition of church membership, was made 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 213 

in an article by Rev. Edward D. Gilman, of Bangor, in the 
Congregational Quarterly, for April, 1862. He showed origi- 
nally the Congregational churches had no creed, and set forth 
the exceptional instances in which confessions had been used 
among them. He quoted from many of the older covenants 
and showed how even in Franklin, Mass., during the whole of 
the pastorate of Dr. Emmons, to whom, perhaps, more than 
any one man, unless it were Dr. Griffin, of Park Street, Con- 
gregationalism was indebted for the idea of creed subscription 
as a basis of church membership, the sole doctrinal condition 
was in the most general terms, recognizing that u there are 
different apprehensions in the minds of great and wise men, 
even in the doctrinals of religion. ' ' He showed how in many 
churches the change had come about almost unconsciously. He 
illustrates this process by the church in Fitzwilliam, N. H., 
which originally had no creed, then in 1813 adopted one by 
a small majority, then in 1823 received people apparently 
without any statement of religious belief, and eighteen months 
later permitted a candidate to confess his faith in terms of the 
Confession of 1813 "in whole or in part as he might choose,' ' 
and ended with the adoption of a briefer confession of faith. 
He showed this rather strikingly among other things that in 
proportion as creeds become a test they cease to be a testimony. 
One of two things seemed sure to happen; either the church 
disregarded its written creed, and assent to it became a mere 
form, or the creed came to be so abridged and modified as to 
cease to be explicit on any but the most fundamental of Chris- 
tian doctrines stated in the broadest possible terms. 

The westward movement of our denomination at the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century was profoundly influenced 
by its association with Presbyterianism ; and while the Con- 
gregationalists in the churches formed under the Plan of 
Union were more frequently of "the new school," they were, 
as a rule, organized in churches having creeds as well as cove- 
nants. 



214 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

The churches west of the Hudson felt more strongly, as a 
rule, than did the Eastern churches the desirability of some- 
thing approaching uniformity in the creeds 1 adopted by local 
churches. These churches were organized in communities com- 
paratively unfamiliar with Congregationalism and where 
churches of other denominations had creeds. The pressure 
upon the National Council in 1865 to formulate a declaration 
of faith came largely from the west. The same is true of the 
pressure under which the Creed of 1883 was formulated. 

The work of the Commission which prepared the Creed of 
1883 deserves high commendation, not only for that noble 
document, but also for the fact that in connection with it the 
Commission formulated what it called a Confession, so distinct 
in form and context from the creed that the churches which 
adopted the Creed of 1883 foundi it natural to distinguish be- 
tween the creed, to be used as a testimony, and the confession 
or covenant, to be used as the basis of church membership. 
The fact that this form of admission never gave general' satis- 
faction does not militate greatly against its value. It assisted 
greatly in the restoration of the right relation between creed 
and covenant. 

In this return toward the earlier practice of our denom- 
ination, even the churches that were organized as a protest 
against Unitarianism have participated. Park Street Church 
was incorporated by act of the Massachusetts Legislature 
April 13, 1916, and under this incorporation consolidated the 
church and society which had been in existence for more than 
a hundred years. The church adopted a new set of By-Laws. 
The first article contains a belief doctrinal platform in which 
the church professes "our decided attachment" to the evan- 
gelical faith, which is denned in five brief declarations, fol- 
lowed by an acceptance of the Apostles' Creed "as embodying 
fundamental facts of Christian faith. ' ' The church has in 
addition, in Article II, a Confession of Faith in seven articles, 
the last of which is a covenant. Members are required to 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 215 

"subscribe to the confession of faith of the Church, and give 
their public assent to the Covenant." The Pastor and Dea- 
cons, instead of being required to assent to Dr. Griffin's creed, 
now subscribe to the confession adopted in 1916. Following 
are these two interesting documents, which show a wide de- 
parture from the rigid standards in force at the beginning, 
but still a firm adherence to evangelical principles : 

ARTICLE I. 

We profess our decided attachment to that system of the Chris- 
tian religion which is designated EVANGELICAL. 

WE BELIEVE that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ments are the Word of God and the all-sufficient rule of faith and 
practice. 

. WE BELIEVE that there is one and but one living and true 
God, subsisting in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy- 
Spirit, equal in power and glory; that this triune God created all, 
upholds all and governs all. 

WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Saviour 
of the World, and that through his life, death and resurrection an 
atonement was made for sin and redemption was provided for all 
mankind. 

WE BELIEVE that repentance for sin and the acceptance of 
Jesus Christ as a personal Saviour is the one and only way whereby 
sinful man can inherit Eternal Life. 

WE BELIEVE the Holy Spirit regenerates the soul of the be- 
liever and brings man into saved relations with God, and that He 
is the Comforter and Guide of all who receive Jesus Christ as a per- 
sonal Saviour. 

WE BELIEVE in what is termed "The Apostles' Creed" as em- 
bodying fundamental facts of Christian Faith. 

ARTICLE II., Section 2. 
Confession of Faith 

a. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and 
earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; and in the 
Holy Spirit, and that these three are 1 one God. 

b. I reverently receive the Scriptures of the Old and New 
Testaments, and believe them to be the inspird Word of God, the 
only infalliable rule of faith and practice. 

c. I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the beginning 
"was with God," and "was God," and "who His own self bare our 
sins in His own body on the, tree." 

d. I believe the Holy Spirit has led me to repent of all my sins, 
and to turn from them, and to obey Christ where he says, "If any 
man will come after me, let him take up his Cross and follow me." 



216 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

e. I believe in the resurrection of the dead, and in the final 
judgment of all men. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlast- 
ing life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but 
the wrath of God abideth on him." 

f. I believe that we, are saved "by grace through faith" in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and that good works are the certain fruit of 
such faith. I therefore offer myself for Christian service as a means 
of expressing my gratitude to Him, and to extend His cause. 

g. I cheerfully submit myself to the instruction and govern- 
ment of this Church, and I promise to promote its purity, peace and 
prosperity by all means within my power, so long as I shall continue 
to be a member of its communion. 

The world will little heed nor long remember what kind 
of creed Park Street adopted in 1916. It might have reaf- 
firmed its old confessions, though this would have been un- 
likely, or adopted the Creed of 1883, or the Kansas City Con- 
fession, or have made a new one, and not much attention would 
be paid to it. The world would expect that Park Street would 
continue evangelical, and under whatever forms of expression 
it might choose to adopt would witness a good confession. It 
would also expect that, however evangelical its new creed, if 
it should choose to make a new one, it would be a much shorter 
creed than that of 1811, and one framed to make it easy to 
accept all true Christians. 

But what Park Street Church did in 1811 was not so 
readily overlooked. The Park Street confession, written by 
Dr. Griffin, became the type and model of confessions of faith 
used as tests of fitness for church membership. The Park 
Street Manual served as the basis for the manuals of Bowdoin 
Street, Pine Street, Essex Street and Mt. Vernon Churches of 
Boston ; Harvard Church of Brookline ; the First and Second 
Churches of Cambridgport, Mass. ; the old South, Worcester ; 
Hammond Street, Bangor; the churches in Lockport and 
Bergen, New York; Plymouth Church, Cleveland; the First 
Church of Chicago, and scores and probably hundreds of 
others. These new churches became centers which furnished 
their manuals as models for newer churches; and thus the 
type reproduced itself. 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 217 

Park Street still requires subscription to its articles of 
faith, but they now are very brief ; and public assent is made, 
according to the By Laws, only to the Covenant. In manuals 
that have been received by the author from a large number 
of churches, there is no other than Park Street which has been 
revised in recent years that requires even this rather general 
assent to the creed. 

Of churches established in recent years and of those that 
have recently revised their forms of admission of members, the 
practice approaches uniformity in this, that virtually all of 
them accept members on the basis of assent to the covenant, 
and use their creed, if they have one, as a testimony and not as 
a test. 

The First Church of Oak Park affords an interesting and 
in some respects a typical illustration of Congregational usage 
with reference to the evolution of a creed. 

The church was 1 organized Feb. 17, 1863, and adopted 
nine "Articles of Faith," all of them brief, and as judged by 
the standards of that time liberal in spirit but in their con- 
tent, then as now, thoroughly evangelical. Members of the 
church were expected to assent both to the Articles of Faith 
and to the Covenant, but so far as is known the Articles of 
Faith were never printed and were seldom publicly read. The 
Covenant, however, was printed on one side of a sheet of 
paper, distributed in the congregation, and from the beginning 
of the church, it was, as it still is, the custom for all the mem- 
bers of the church to rise when members are received and 
unite in repeating their portion of the church covenant. 

In January, 1872, during the pastorate of Rev. George 
Huntington, D. D., the first Manual was issued, and at that 
time both the Articles of Faith and the Covenant underwent 
revision. There still were nine articles of faith, all of them 
brief, and covering article by article the doctrines embraced in 
the corresponding articles of the original Articles of Faith, 
but the phraseology of all the articles was changed and in 



218 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

every case the change was in the interest of a somewhat more 
liberal interpretation, but with no compromise of orthodoxy. 
In this Manual another important change was made, and con- 
tinues to the present day. Members of the church were not 
required to assent to the Articles of Faith, but were expected 
to have read them and to "assent to the substance of those 
doctrines' ' in a Confession still more brief. 

In 1910, the Declaration of Faith was revised, the number 
of Articles reduced to seven, not by any essential omission but 
by condensation, and the Articles of Faith were prefaced by a 
statement in full accord with the long-established custom of 
the church ; namely, that the declaration of faith was not to 
be used as a test of fitness for church membership, but as a 
testimony of faith and an expression of the spirit in which 
this church interprets the Word of God. 

After the meeting of the National Council in Kansas City 
in 1913, the church adopted the Kansas City creed, which is 
now the Confession of Faith of the church. 

ORIGINAL ARTICLES OF FAITH OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF 

OAK PARK 
1863—1872 

(1) We believe in one God, the Creator, Preserver and Ruler 
of the universe, existing in three persons, the Father Almighty; the 
Son, God manifest in the flesh; and the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier 
and Comforter. 

(2) We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 
ments were given by inspiration of God, and contain the only in- 
falliable rule of faith and practice. 

(3) We believe that mankind are in a ruined and losti condition 
through sin against God. 

(4) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, who is very God, 
assumed our nature, and by His suffering and death on the cross, 
made an ample atonement for the sins of the world, so that "whoso- 
ever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." 

(5) We believe in the necessity of repentance, faith, and a new 
life to acceptance with God; that salvation is freely offered to all, 
and that all who truly repent and believe in Christ shall be saved, 
and that those who reject the Gospel will perish through their own 
impenitence and unbelief. 

(6) We believe that the influences of the Holy Spirit are indis- 
pensable to make the truth effectual to the conversion of sinners 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 219 

and the sanctification of believers, and that these influences are 
perfectly consistent with the free agency of man. 

(7) We believe in the blessed fellowship of all true believers in 
Christ, and that a creditable evidence of a change of heart is an 
indispensable ground of admission to the, visible church. 

(8) We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted the or- 
dinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper to be observed by His 
disciples; and that these, together with the Christian Sabbath, are 
a perpetual obligation. 

(9) We believe in the resurrection of the dead, the final judg- 
ment, the eternal life, of all the saints in the Lord, and the eternal 
punishment of the wicked. 

ORIGINAL COVENANT OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF OAK PARK 

1863—1872 

Covenant 

You do now, in the presence of God and men, declare the Lord 
Jehovah to be your God, the supreme object of your affection and 
your chosen portion forever. You cordially acknowledge the Lord 
Jesus Christ in all His mediatorial offices, Prophet, Priest and King, 
as your only Saviour and final Judge; and the Holy Spirit as your 
Sanctifier, Comforter and Guide. You humbly and cheerfully de- 
vote yourself to God in the everlasting covenant of grace; you con- 
secrate your powers and faculties to His service and glory; and you 
promise, that through the assistance of His spirit and grace, you will 
cleave to Him as your chief good; that you will attend diligently 
on all the institutions and ordinances of the Gospel, and particularly 
the Lord's Supper, public worship and the social meetings of the 
church; that you will maintain secret prayer, and by example and 
effort encourage family devotion, and the strict observance of the 
Sabbath; that you will seek the honor of Christ's name and the 
interests of His kingdom; and that henceforth denying ungodliness 
and every worldly lust you will live soberly, righteously, and godly 
in the world. 

You do now cordially join yourselves to this as a church of 
Christ, engaging to submit to its discipline, so far as conformable 
to the rules of the Gospel; and solemnly covenanting to strive, as 
far as in you lies, for its gospel peace, edification and purity, and 
to walk with its members in memberlike love, faithfulness, circum- 
spection, meekness and sobriety. 

(Here the members of the Church will rise.) 

We, then, the members of this church of Christ, do now re- 
ceive you into our communion, and promise, to watch over you 
with Christian affection and tenderness, ever treating you in love, 
as a member of the body of Christ, who is head over all things to 
the church. 

This we do, imploring the great Shepherd of Israel, our Lord 
and Redeemer, that both we and you may have wisdom and grace 
to be faithful in His covenant, and to glorify Him with the holiness 
which becometh His house forever. 



220 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

THE SECOND DECLARATION OP FAITH OF THE FIRST 
CHURCH OF OAK PARK 

1872—1910 

Article I. 

We believe that there is one only living and true God; that He 
possesses in an infinite degree every attribute of perfection; 
that He is the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the Universe; 
and that He is revealed in the Scriptures as Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit. 

Article II. 

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testa- 
ment were written by inspiration of God; that they are a revelation 
of His will; and that they are the only authoritative Rule of Re- 
ligious Faith and Practice. 

Article III. 

We believe that man was originally created in a state of moral 
innocence; that by voluntary transgression he became a sinner; and 
that without the regenerating grace of God he can never attain unto 
salvation. 

Article IV. 

We believe that Jesus Christ is both God and man; that by His 
sufferings and death He has made atonement for human sin; and 
that upon the ground of this atonement, pardon and salvation are 
bestowed upon those who repent of sin and believe in Him. 

Article V. 

We believe that all who exercise; such repentance and faith are 
regenerated by special influences of the Holy Spirit; and that having 
been chosen in Christ from the foundation of the world, they will 
be kept by His power through faith unto salvation. 

Article VI. 

We believe that it is the duty and privilege of all such persons 
to make a public profession of their Christian faith, by uniting 
themselves to the visible Church of Christ. 

Article VII. 

We believe that the Gospel Ministry, the Christian Church, and 
the Christian Sabbath, are institutions of divine appointment, and 
will continue in force to the end of the world. 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 221 

Article VIII. 

We believe that the ordinances which Christ has made binding 
upon the Church are Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 

Article IX. 

We believe that there will be a resurrection of the dead and a 
general judgment; and that the wicked will go away into everlast- 
ing punishment, and the righteous into life eternal. 

ADMISSION OP MEMBERS 

Persons desiring to become members of this Church, after hav- 
ing been examined and propounded in the manner heretofore pre- 
scribe in this Manual, shall be publicly received into the Church 
on some Sunday on which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is 
observed, before the administration of that ordinance. They shall 
present themselves before the pulpit, as their names are called, 
and shall be thus addressed by the Pastor or by the Minister of- 
ficiating: 
Beloved Friends: 

Having already read and considered the more formal statement 
of doctrine contained in our Articles of Faith, and having carefully 
compared it with your own views, you now assent to the substance 
of those doctrines in the following 

Confession. 

We confess our reverent love and faith toward God our Heaven- 
ly Father, and toward the Lord Jesus Christ, our Blessed Saviour, 
and toward the Holy Spirit, our Divine Comforter. 

We gratefully accept His Word as a message of love from Him, 
revealing to us the things which we most need and desire to know 
respecting His character and will, and respecting our obligations 
to Him. 

We confess our sin and our unworthiness in His sight, and re- 
nounce all dependence upon our own works for salvation; though 
we esteem it both our privilege and our duty to render to Him 
every service in our power, and especially to honor His Truth, 
His Sabbath, His Church, and the Ordinances of His Religion. 

We receive with implicit trust the offers which He has made to 
us in His word, of pardon through the blood of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and of regeneration through the power of the Holy Spirit; 
and believing that we have experienced this pardon and regener- 
ation, we look confidently to Him who is the resurrection and the 
life, and who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing, 
to save us from the second death, and to grant us an inheritance 
in His everlasting kingdom. 

Thus you confess? 



222 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Baptism. 

[To those Uniting upon Profession.] 

In accordance with the faith which you have now confessed, 
and with the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are here to 
unite yourselves with His visible Church, under the ordinances and 
covenants which He has established? 
[To those Baptized in Infancy.] 

You who were dedicated to God in childhood by your believing 
parents, in the ordinance of Baptism, do now accept that act as 
your own, believing that the spiritual change which it signifies has 
been wrought within you by the Holy Spirit? 
[To those not Baptized.] 

You who trust that you have been renewed by the Holy Spirit, 
but who have never received the outward sign of regeneration, are 
now prepared to receive that sign in the ordinance of Baptism? 

Covenant. 

Thus confessing and obeying Christ, and having already con- 
secrated yourselves unreservedly to Him, you now renew that con- 
secration in the presence of these witnesses, declaring the Lord 
Jehovah to be your God, the object of your supreme, affection, and 
your portion forever. You solemnly surrender yourselves to Him 
as your only rightful sovereign. You devote to His service all your 
faculties, powers, and possessions, promising to make His will the 
constant rule of your life, and His glory the ultimate end of all 
your actions. You declare your purpose, to make your own personal 
sanctification and Christian usefulness the standard by which to 
decide the lawfulness of all your worldly business and amusements ; 
abstaining from every practice and pursuit which shall interfere 
with these ends, and attending conscientiously upon every ordinance 
and means of grace which shall enable you to secure them. 

In accordance with these purposes, you do now unite yourselves 
with this Church of Christ, engaging to maintain and submit to 
its government and discipline, to co-operate, with it in all good 
enterprises, and to promote, to the utmost of your power, its purity, 
its peace, and its prosperity. 

Trusting in the grace of God, you thus covenant and engage? 
[Here the Church will arise and Say,] 

We then affectionately receive you as members with us of the 
Church of Christ. We bid you welcome, in His name, to all the 
blessings and privileges which are connected with this divine in- 
stitution. We tender you our Christian communion and most cor- 
dial fellowship, cherishing a fraternal interest in your spiritual 
welfare, and desiring to aid you, by our sympathies, our counsels, 
and our prayers, in discharging the responsibilities which you have 
this day assumed. 

[Here the pastor may give, the right hand of fellowship to each 
person, with such words as he may think appropriate.] 
[By the Pastor.] 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 223 

And now may the Almighty Spirit help you to fulfill the cove- 
nant which you have made with Him and His people this day. The 
Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine 
upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His counte- 
nance upon you, and give you peace. 

' THE COVENANT IN INFANT BAPTISM 

The ordinance of Infant Baptism, also, is administered with a 
mutual Covenant,- — which has been in use in the First Church from 
1872 — and perhaps earlier — to the present time. 

Children may be presented for Baptism on any Sunday on 
which the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is not administered. 
While they are brought forward, the following chant shall be, sung: 

Processional Chant. 

1. And Jesus said, Suffer little children, 

and forbid them not to || come . . unto || me; 
For of || such . . is the || kingdom . . of || heaven. 

2. He shall feed His || flock . . like a || shepherd; 
He shall gather the lambs with His arm 

and || carry . . them || in His || bosom. 

3. I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, 

and my blessing up- |] on thine || offspring; 
And they shall spring up as among the, grass, 
as || willows . . by the || water- || courses. 

The Pastor or officiating clergyman shall then read to those Who 
present their children for Baptism the following 

Covenant of Parents. 

Thesei children, whom God has given to you, you now bring unto 
Him, that you may consecrate them to Him, and enter into cove- 
nant with Him in their behalf, engaging to be faithful to them in 
all spiritual things, and to seek by prayer, by instruction in the 
Scriptures, by admonition, by persuasion, and especially by a godly 
life and conversation, to lead them to a saving knowledge of Christ; 
and you recognize in this rite of Baptism the seal of that covenant, 
and the sign of the spiritual cleansing which it typifies? 

Answer: We do. 

The rite of Baptism having been administered, the Church shall 
arise and repeat the following 

Covenant of the Church. 

We also, as your fellow members in this Church of Christ, do 
join with you in the covenant which you make this day in behalf of 



224 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

these your children. We recognize our relation to them as in a 
peculiar sense the children of the Church, desiring with you to 
watch over them, and to care for all their spiritual interests, labor- 
ing and praying for their salvation, that they may early become the 
subjects of that inward grace whose outward sign they have now 
received. 

After prayer by the officiating minister, the following chant 
shall be sung, while the children retire: 

Recessional Chant. 

1. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, 

and || ye shall . . be || clean ; 
A new heart also will I give you, 

and a new spirit || will I || put with- || in you. 

2. The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting 

upon |l them that || fear Him, 
And His righteousness || unto || children's || children. 

3. To such as || keep His || covenant, 

And to those that remember His 
com- || mand . . ments to ||do them . . A- || men. 

THE THIRD DECLARATION OF FAITH OF THE FIRST 

CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH OF OAK PARK 

1910—1914 

The First Church invites to its fellowship all who love God and 
their fellow men, and who strive to know and perform their duty 
in the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Declaration of Faith. 

The following declaration, while not to be used as a test of 
fitness for church membership, which is determined by faith in 
Christ and faithful living, is adopted as a testimony of faith, and an 
expression of the spirit in which this Church interprets the Word 
of God. To that Word, interpreted by the Spirit who gave it, final 
appeal is directed in matters of faith and practice. 

Article I. — God 

We believe that there is one only living and true God, who is 
revealed to us in Scripture as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Article II. — The Holy Scriptures 

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, 
written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit, contain a reve- 
lation from God, revealing unto us the things which we most need 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 225 

and desire to know concerning His character and will, and our ob- 
ligation to Him; and that they are sufficient for our guidance in 
all matters of religious faith and practice. 

Article III. — Our Lord Jesus Christ 

We believe that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto 
Himself; that in the life, teaching, death and resurrection of Jesus, 
His beloved Son, the love and power of God are made manifest for 
the salvation of the world. 

Article IV. — Sin and Salvation 

We believe that all men have sinned, and come short of the glory- 
God; that the wages of sin is death, and that the gift of God is 
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord; that all who repent and 
come to God in the love of Jesus Christ, become through the re- 
generating power of the Holy Spirit, heirs of God, joint heirs with 
Jesus Christ, and are kept by the power of God through faith unto 
Salvation. 

Article V.— The Church of Christ 

We believe in the Church of Jesus Christ; in the Gospel min- 
istry; in the Christian Sabbath; and in the ordinances of the Church, 
Baptism and the Lord's Supper. 

Article VI.— The Work of the Church 

We believe that it is the duty of Christians, to confess Christ 
before men, and united in the fellowship of the Church, to proclaim 
the Gospel to all men; to support the institutions of charity and 
compassion; and to labor for the spread of intelligence, liberty, 
justice, temperance, peace and righteousness in all the earth. 

Article, VII. — The Coming of the Kingdom 

We believe in the coming triumph of righteousness in the world 
which God so loved and for which Christ died; and that they who 
share the more abundant life and hope which Christ has revealed, 
triumph over sin and death, and partake of the life everlasting. 
Amen. 

THE FOURTH DECLARATION OF FAITH OF THE FIRST 

CHURCH OF OAK PARK 

Adopted in 1914. 

The First Church invites to its fellowship all who love God and 
their fellow men, and who strive to know and perform their duty 
in the spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The following declaration, while not to be used as a test of 
fitness for church membership, which is determined by faith in 



226 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Christ and a consistent life, is adopted as a testimony of faith, and an 
expression of the spirit in which this Church interprets the Word 
of God. To that Word, interpreted by the Spirit who gave it, final 
appeal is directed in matters of faith and practice. 

THE CONFESSION OF FAITH ADOPTED BY THE NATIONAL 
COUNCIL IN 1913 

We believe in God the Father, infinite in wisdom, goodness, and 
love; and in Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord and Saviour, who for 
us and our salvation lived and died and rose again and liveth ever- 
more; and 1 in the Holy Spirit, who taketh of the things of Christ 
and revealeth them to us, renewing, comforting, and inspiring the 
souls of men. We are united in striving to know the will of God 
as taught in the Holy Scriptures, and in our purpose to walk in the 
ways of the Lord, made known or to be made known to us. We 
hold it to be the mission of the Church of Christ to proclaim the 
Gospel to all mankind, exalting the worship of the one true God, and 
laboring for the progress of knowledge, the promotion of justice, 
the reign of peace, and the realization of human brotherhood. De- 
pending, as did our fathers, upon the continued guidance of the 
Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth, we work and pray for the trans- 
formation of the world into the Kingdom of God; and we look with 
faith for the triumph of righteousness and the life everlasting. 

FORM FOR THE ADMISSION OF MEMBERS 

(Candidates for membership make application through the Mem- 
bership Committee, and their names having been duly propounded, 
they are approved by vote of the church, usually at the IVednesday 
evening next preceding a communion service. Having thus been 
accepted, the candidates receive their public welcome, usually at 
a communion service and just before the administration of the 
Lord's Supper.) 

The Invitation and its Acceptance. 

(The names of the candidates being read by the minister with a 
statement of the vote of the church receiving them into member- 
ship, the candidates will come forward and the minister will say.) 

Wherewith shall we come before the Lord, and what offering 
shall we make unto the most high God? He hath showed thee O 
man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to 
do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? 

The mercy of the Lord is upon them that fear Him; to those 
that remember His commandments to do them and keep them. 
With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the 
mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

Jesus said, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I 
confess also before my Father who is in heaven. Him that cometh 
unto me, I will in no wise cast out. 

Having, therefore, received such promises, let us come with 
confidence unto the throne of grace. Let us approach with clean 



SUMMARY OF CONGREGATIONAL USAGE 227 

hands and a pure heart, with faith in God and love for our fellow 
men. Let us come with penitence and reverence; with humility 
and boldness, with contrite spirit and gladness of heart. Let us 
enter into our heritage as disciples of our common Lord, into the 
fellowship of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and of the Church of the 
living God. For behold, He hath set before us an open door, and 
no man can shut it. 

The Covenant of the Members. 

(Baptism having been administered to those who are not al- 
ready baptized, and those who were baptized in infancy having 
ratified the covenant made on their behalf by Christian parents, 
the minister will address the candidates:) 
Dearly beloved : 

Confessing your reverent love for God, your heavenly Father, 
and your faith in Jesus Christ your Saviour, you now enter into the 
membership of this Church in the service and fellowship of the 
Spirit of truth. You promise and covenant with God and the 
Church, to walk together with your Christian brethren in the fel- 
lowship of the gospel, and in all the ways of the Lord made known 
or to be made known to you; to share in the worship and work 
of this Church, and the faith and devotion 1 of the Church universal. 
You engage to submit to the government and discipline of this 
Church until you are regularly dismissed therefrom; to co-operate 
with it in all good enterprises; and to promote to the utmost of 
your power its prosperity, its purity and its peace. 

Trusting in the, grace of God, do you thus covenant and engage? 

Answer: I do. 

The Response of the Church. 

(Here the Church will arise and say) 

We then affectionately receive you as members with us of the 
Church of Christ. We bid you welcome, in His name, to all the 
blessings and privileges which are connected with this divine in- 
stitution. We tender to you our Christian communion and most 
cordial fellowship, cherishing a fraternal interest in your spiritual 
welfare, and desiring to aid you, by our sympathies, our counsels, 
and our prayers, in discharging the responsibilities which you have 
this day assumed. 

The Right Hand of Fellowship. 

(Here the Minister will give the right hand of fellowship to 
each person, with such words as he may think appropriate.) 
(By the Pastor) 

And now may Almighty God our Heavenly Father help you to 
fulfill the covenant which you have made with Him and His people 
this day. The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His 
face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift 
up His countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen. 



PART THREE 
CREEDS AND CONSCIENCES 



I. CREEDS : THEIR USE AND ABUSE 

The Congregational churches have made united and con- 
sistent protest against the tyranny of creeds. Holding as they 
do to the essential truth which finds expression more or less 
adequate in all creeds, they have resolutely protested against 
the right of any man, or group of men, to make a creed which 
they shall be required to accept. The protest of the Puritans 
was not against the creed of the Church of England, but 
against the supposed authority by which creeds were imposed 
upon the conscience of ministers and church members, Rich- 
ard Baxter said, 

''We do not dissent from the doctrine of the Church of 
England expressed in the articles and homilies. ' ' 

John Robinson and William Brewster in the "Seven Ar- 
ticles" which they submitted in 1617 on behalf of the Pilgrim 
church said : " To ye confession of faith published in ye name 
of ye church of England, and to every article thereof, we do 
with the reformed churches where we live and also elsewhere 
assent wholly. ' ' 

It was altogether common for the early Congregationalists 
to refer to the Articles of the Church of England as containing 
their essential views in doctrine; and these references would 
be more abundant than they are had it not been assumed, and 
rightly, that their Christian faith was essentially the same as 

228 



CREEDS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE 229 

that of other Christian people in their own day. When, in 
1662, two thousand five hundred clergymen passed out of the 
ministry of the Church of England, it was not wholly nor 
chiefly because they did not believe the essential doctrine 
which they were required to preach; indeed, there is good 
reason to believe that many of those who lost their livings at 
that time differed from their neighbors chiefly in having a 
more sensitive conscience in the matter of subscription to 
creeds and other standards imposed upon them by authority 
of the crown. The question of doctrine was distinctly a minor 
one, but in so far as it entered into the controversy which led 
to the ejectment, it was not so much the articles of belief that 
occasioned the trouble as it was the authority which assumed 
the right to compel belief. 

In a general way this attitude toward creeds has been 
maintained throughout the history of the Congregational 
churches. The fact that a Congregationalist refuses to sign 
a particular creed is not by any means proof, or even presump- 
tion, that he does not accept the substance of doctrine con- 
tained in the creed. His protest is more likely to be against 
the assumed right of any man or body of men to compel him to 
sign any creed. There is a sense in which a Congregationalist 
will readily subscribe to all creeds and at the same time protest 
against the authority of them all and singular. 

There are those who affirm that any possible creed is an 
evil, and only evil, and that continually. A writer in The 
Unpopular Review recently expressed himself thus : 

It is not only in the fact that' the creed of the Church is the 
wrong one. What is amiss is the mere existence of a creed. As 
soon as income, position and power are dependent upon assent to 
no matter what creed, intellectual honesty is imperilled. Men will 
tell themselves that a formal acceptance of the creed is justified by 
the good which it will enable them to do. They fail to realize that, 
in men whose mental life has any vigor, loss of complete intellectual 
integrity weakens the power of doing good, by producing gradually 
in all directions an inability to see truth simply. The strictness of 
party discipline has introduced the same evil into politics; there, 



230 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

because the evil is comparatively new, it is visible to many who 
think it unimportant as regards the Church. But the evil is greater 
as regards the Church, because religion is of more importance than 
politics, and because it is more necessary that the exponents of 
religion should be wholly free from taint. 

But this is a short-sighted and one-sided statement. We 
cannot get on without creeds, and there is no good reason why 
we should attempt it. But there is good reason why we should 
refuse to be in bondage to our creeds. 

Congregationalists have no superstitious reverence for 
creeds as such, however far some Congregationalists may go 
from time to time in their regard for particular creeds. Creeds 
are human instruments, the product of discussion and com- 
promise, and they often suppress as much truth as they ex- 
press. Very often they have succeeded in emphasizing one 
truth only by the violent neglect or even denial of other truth 
equally important. Congregationalists know this, and will not 
permit themselves to be bound by creeds imposed by the 
authority of men. 

But Congregationalists know, also, that there is a liberty 
greater than personal liberty, the liberty in which individual 
men are released from the narrow bondage of self, whether it 
be self-love or self-expression, into the higher liberty of fel- 
lowship. If this is to be done, there must be a union of 
interests and of utterance. Christians must learn not only 
to unite in common forms of activity, but must unite in sing- 
ing the same hymns and in uttering the same great truths. 
Creeds become valuable as hymns become valuable, because 
they give voice to this higher liberty. 

The very latest book on creeds gives expression in terms 
of high enthusiasm to this view of the larger liberty which 
creeds 1 may be made to serve. It is a volume on The Apostles' 
Creed, by Prof. Edward S. Drown, of the Episcopal Theolog- 
ical School in Cambridge. Congregationalists may not follow 
him in the very high regard for creeds which he expresses, yet 



CREEDS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE 231 

they will find themselves in sympathy with his essential 
thought : 

CREEDS AND LIBERTY 

Is a creed a restraint on religious liberty? So it is often main- 
tained. Creeds are regarded as shackles, fetters on freedom. It is 
held that the road to freedom is through the abolition of creeds. 

If creeds are really fetters on freedom, modern men can have 
no interest in creeds. We demand liberty; liberty of thought and 
of life, liberty in the state, industrial liberty — above all, liberty of 
conscience in all things that pertain to our relation with God. The 
fight for liberty is the fight of the modern world. With a great 
price purchased we this freedom, and there remaineth yet very much 
land to be possessed. If religion is to keep its place in the modern 
world, it must not merely tolerate the demand for liberty — it must 
insist upon it. For no freedom is perfectly secured unless it is 
founded on religious freedom — the freedom of man's relation with 
God. 

If then creeds are a shackle on freedom, creeds cannot perma- 
nently be maintained. They must be defended, if at all, in no faint- 
hearted, apologetic way. It will not be enough to prove that their 
restraints on freedom are not very serious. The, issue must be more 
boldly faced. Creeds must be shown to be guarantees of liberty. It 
must be shown that their abolition would conduce to bondage 
rather than to freedom. Only such a contention can vindicate the 
rightful place for creeds. A half-hearted defence must be abandoned 
for a bold attack . 

The fact is that freedom cannot, be separated from a right rela- 
tion to one's environment. Freedom and experience go hand in 
hand. On the one hand, man is not a thing. He, is not the mere 
sport of outward circumstance. He can become the master and not 
the slave of his own nature and of his environment. On the other 
hand, he can attain such free mastery only as he grasps the truth 
of his own nature and of the environment in which he is placed. 
Freedom is a growth, and it grows only through knowledge of the 
truth and obedience to that truth. If a man's will acts arbitrarily, 
without relation to his own nature, and to his circumstances, then 
his will enslaves him instead of freeing him. A man lost in the 
woods can go any way that he likes. But by that very fact he 
cannot escape from them. He finds a path, and in following it he 
wins his freedom. A ship at sea without chart or compass is the 
sport of accident. Chart and compass reveal its true position and 
open up freedom to reach the desired haven. Free control over 
nature comes only through knowledge of and obedience to the laws 
of nature. As scientific knowledge of nature increases, scientific 
control over nature grows by leaps and bounds, and man's free 
control of nature grows apace. Freedom consists always in a rela- 
tion to the truth. Only by knowledge of truth can man's will be 
set free from bondage to his environment. By obedience to law he 
becomes master instead of slave. 



232 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

- All this is just as true of political freedom. Political freedom 
does not come at the beginning of history. It is an end to be 
achieved, and to be achieved only as right relations are developed 
between man and man. The free savage is a figment of the imagi- 
nation. He is bound by traditions, customs, the hard necessities of 
life. Thomas Hobbes was perfectly right in maintaining that a 
state without law was a state where every man was deprived of his 
rights. Anarchy is but another name for tyranny. The individual 
citizen becomes free as the community establishes itself in law and 
order. Laws that truly express the constitution of society at the 
same time secure the freedom of the citizen. Laws guard and pro- 
tect that freedom. Covenants are signed that it may be defended. 
Magna Charta guarded the rights of men. When the men on the 
Mayflower put their names to that compact, did they sign away their 
freedom or secure it? When the Declaration of Independence was 
signed was that signature an act of slavery? When the Constitution 
of the United States brought order out of confusion and light out of 
darkness did it impose slavery or liberty upon the nation? 

Freedom of the will goes hand in hand with the discovery of 
truth. Freedom in the State goes hand in hand with the growth of 
law. 

Of course the law must be true law; that is, it must be law that 
rightly expresses the nature of the community and the, relation to 
each other of its citizens. When law distorts those relations, then 
law becomes tyranny. But the escape, from tyranny is not through 
the abolition of law, but through its reformation. Anarchy is the 
opposite of freedom. Freedom exists in proportion as the com- 
munity has come to a true realization of itself, and has expressed 
itself in true laws. Freedom consists in right relation to law. 

In every case freedom comes only through the truth. Whether 
we are speaking of freedom of the will, of political freedom, or of 
industrial freedom, in any case we are free only by being put into 
true relations with our fellowmen. 

Such considerations should cast light on the character of relig- 
ious freedom and on its relation to creeds. Religious freedom con- 
sists in a man's ability to express himself truly in his relation to 
God and to his fellows. Alike to God and to his fellows. For re- 
ligion is never a matter of relation to God alone. It is also a 
matter of human fellowship brought about by that relation, real 
or supposed, to God. From its beginnings religion has been a 
social rather than a purely individual matter. Religion began 
not with the individual, but with the tribe or clan or family. And 
as religion developed it has always been a means through which 
men were knit together by a common belief in their common relation 
to God. 

This union of the individual and the social runs through the 
whole New Testament from cover to cover. The Apostle Paul opens 
up the richness of the individual life, created through its surrender 
to God. 

Later Christianity has had many faults and aberrations, but it 
has never utterly lost that ideal. It lies at the very heart of the 



CREEDS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE 233 

belief in the Church. For the Church, rightly taken, stands for 
the ideal of a fellowship among men that is rooted and grounded on 
fellowship with God. In the. deepest sense all Christian life is life 
in the Church, that is in fellowship. Take the word Church in no 
narrow or sectarian interpretation, and the old saying, so often 
misused, becomes true in the deepest sense, "There is no salvation 
outside of the. Church." For the heart of that saying is that there 
can be no fellowship with God unless it is realized through fellow- 
ship with men, that the love of God means love of the brethren. 

This brings us back to the statement that religious freedom 
consists in a man's ability to express himself truly in his relation to 
God and to his fellows. What bearing on such liberty has a creed? 

There are certain religions in which a positive definite creed 
emerges, and in which acceptance of that creed is regarded as vital 
to the fellowship of that religion. The religion of Israel had such 
a creed. It finds definite expression as follows: "Hear, O [srael: 
the Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon 
thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, 
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when 
thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou 
risesti up. And thou shalit bind them for a sign upon thine hand, 
and they shall be for frontlets between thine, eyes. And thou shalt 
write them upon the door posts of thy house, and upon thy gates." 
(Deut. 6: 4-9.) The acceptance of the Lord as God becomes a 
creed, a badge, of fellowship. 

Mohammedanism has its creed. "There is no God except Allah, 
and Mohammed is his prophet." Under that creed the body of the 
faithful form a fellowship. Something of the, same kind can be 
said of the ancient Persian religion of Zarathustra or Zoroaster. 
Allegiance to the God of light against the power of darkness became 
a badge of fellowship. In all these cases we have not merely an 
underlying theology, but we have certain fundamental ideas ex- 
pressing allegiance to a common God. And that allegiance and the 
beliefs that went with it become a pledge of a common fellowship. 

All these religions are distinctly fighting religions. Each one 
is concerned with its own truth as vital. Each is in a sense an 
intolerant religion, that is it regards its own truth as a thing to be 
fought for. There is a great difference between such religions and 
the easy going tolerance of Greece and Rome, a tolerance that rested 
not upon a conviction of the rights of conscience, the only true 
basis for toleration, but upon an indifference to truth, or at least 
upon the suspicion that all ideas are in some way equally true. But 
these fighting religions have had aggressive power, they have had 
a distinctly missionary element. For, realizing that religion implies 
truth, they could not be indifferent to truth and to its propagation. 

Now the Christian religion had a creed from very early times. 
Not, of course, a forma] creed. That came later. But in the New 
Testament it is perfectly clear that the early Christians w ere knit 
together in a common allegiance to their Lord, and that that alle- 



234 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

giance was expressed in an elementary creedal form. The heart of 
this was the confession of Jesus as Lord and Christ. Perhaps its 
earliest form was that Jesus was the Christ, or more strictly that 
the Christ was Jesus. There is given no single form of words, but 
the importance of such a fundamental confession of faith in Christ 
is clearly seen. The following passages will serve as examples: 
"Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will 
I also confess before my Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 10: 
32, cf. Luke 12: 8.) "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus 
as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from 
the dead, thou shalt be saved : for with the heart man believeth unto 
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salva- 
tion." (Rom. 10: 9-10.) "That every tongue should confess that 
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2: 11.) 
"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth 
in him and he in God." (I John 4: 15. Cf. I John 4: 2-3, and II 
John, verse 7.) And the following passage is very probably a quo- 
tation from an early hymn or confession of faith: "He who was 
manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, 
preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up 
in glory." (I Tim. 3: 16.) These passages sufficiently indicate the 
fundamental confession of Christ which lay at the basis of the 
Christian fellowship. 

A creed then is primarily an expression of religious allegiance 
and a badge of religious fellowship. It is not first a mere theology, 
a mere collection of dogmas or beliefs. It is primarily an expres- 
sion of faith or belief, belief taken in a personal rather than in an 
intellectual sense, belief conceived of as trust or allegiance. It 
carries with it, of course, intellectual contents. But those intel- 
lectual contents are but the expression of a fundamental act of 
trust. 

Now is such a creed enslaving? Yes, if the path through the 
woods is enslaving to the man who is lost. Yes, if the map and 
compass are enslaving to the ship at sea. Yes, if the Declaration 
of Independence and the Constitution of the United States are 
shackles on liberty. But if path and compass and map and con- 
stitution are means to secure liberty, and to escape from slavery, 
then may not a creed expressing a common allegiance serve the 
same purpose? If religious fellowship rests upon such common 
allegiance and upon the truth that, that allegiance implies, then a 
creed expressing that allegiance and that truth is not a badge of 
slavery but of freedom. 

It is an easy supposition that the abolition of all creeds would 
make for religious, for Christian, freedom. The question as to how 
the abolition of the Apostles' Creed would affect freedom can be 
discussed only after we have considered the character of that creed. 
Here the question concerns creeds in general. And there is no more 
reason to suppose that the abolition of all creeds would make for 
liberty in the Church any more than the abolition of constitutions 
and laws would make for liberty in the State. If men were only 
isolated individuals they would need no constitutions, no laws, and 



CREEDS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE 235 

no creeds. But if men find their true life not in isolation but in 
fellowship, and if that fellowship rests on the discovery of true 
relations between men, then laws and constitutions are but the, road 
to freedom. And if religious freedom goes hand in hand with re- 
ligious fellowship, then the, creed that maintains that fellowship is 
but an expression of the truth that makes men free. 

Of course a creed may be misused. It may be interpreted in a 
narrow and coercive way. So may laws and constitutions be mis- 
used. Or a creed may be a false creed, expressing untrue rela- 
tions and narrowing fellowship. So may constitutions and laws be 
falsely formed and thus may produce slavery. There is the danger 
of tyranny, whether in State or Church. And always men are to be 
found who hold that tyranny can be destroyed only by anarchy, 
that liberty 1 can be maintained only by the abolition of law. But 
that way madness lies. The cure for misuse of law is right use of 
law. The cure for bad law is good law. When laws rightly express 
the life of a people and are administered to protect that life, then 
they are the guarantees of freedom. So must it be with Christian 
liberty. If a creed is a false creed or is falsely used, then it will 
produce slavery. But the cure for that slavery will be, a true creed 
and a true conception of its use. 

Confessions of faith have their value. The work that is 
to save the world must be a federated work; there must be 
discipline, organization, unity of thought, life and action. 
The church must learn not only to sing the same hymns, but 
to think the same great thoughts and to utter the same great 
convictions. Creeds are a normal expression of corporate life. 

A common faith calls for a common expression. Novalis 
said, ' ■ My belief gains quite infinitely the moment I can con- 
vince another mind of it." The promise of God is 1 to those 
who agree on earth as touching any one thing. With the 
mouth confession is made unto salvation and that confession 
is more than the confession of an individual soul and that 
salvation is social as well as personal. The truths of the Chris- 
tian religion clamor for utterance. If Christians should hold 
their peace the very stones would cry out. Principal Rainy 
in his chapter on "Creeds and Confessions" in his Cunning- 
ham Lecture, says : "A high Christian enthusiasm has usually 
been connected with strong and decided affirmation of doctrine, 
and with a disposition to speak it out ever more fully. That 
temper has been venturesome to speak even as it has been 



236 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

venturesome to do ; as little fearing to declare G od 's Word in 
human speech, as to embody His will in human acts. ' ' 

But if Christians are to utter their faith unitedly they 
must find common terms in which that faith can be expressed : 
for expressed it must be if it is to live. Prof. W. A. Curtis 
says : " If we know in whom we have believed, and in what 
we have believed, it is a Christian's duty to proclaim it, 
should be a Christian's pride, and will prove a marvellous 
reinforcement of a Christian's power. Faith that is genuine 
will out. Faith that is uttered will grow in the believer and 
will lay hold upon others. It is a law of spiritual nature. 
The men who toiled to compose Confessions knew it well and 
counted upon it. Above all the various particular objects 
that they had in view, the vindication of their teaching against 
misrepresentation and attack, the settlement of controversy, 
the ratification of ecclesiastical union or reunion, the deter- 
mination of orthodoxy, and the provision of a dogmatic stand- 
ard of discipline, they felt that it was the burden and glory 
of faith to find articulate expression, and that the communion 
of believers needed reliable guidance in believing. ' ' 

Congregational scholars who have been stoutest in their 
protest against the use of creeds as a test have been strongest 
in their belief in the practical value of creeds as a testimony. 
Dr. Quint, who constantly quoted with the heartiest approval 
Cotton Mather's "golden phrase" "Let the terms of com- 
munion run parallel with the terms of salvation, ' ' held also to 
the value of creeds as an expression of the common life of 
Christians. In his article in the Congregational Quarterly in 
1869 in which more fully than anywhere else he set forth his 
views on this subject he said, — 

We say, then, in the golden phrase of Cotton Mather, let 'the 
terms of communion run parallel with the terms of salvation.' Re- 
form whatever is contrary to this rule as unscriptural, and also, 
as history shows, an innovation upon the primitive and catholic 
way. 

Articles of doctrinal belief — a creed — are essential to the his- 
toric church, and to every organization that is truly a part thereof. 



CREEDS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE 237 

For the Creed, the compend of the doctrines that have from time to 
time been wrought out of Scripture through the experiences of 
study and conflict, is an important part of the history of the church. 
The fruits of the Christian experience are precious. A "church" that 
discards them is an alien body, without interest or right in "the holy 
church universal throughout all the world." A lack of the historic 
spirit, which feeds on the fruits of the past, impoverishes the poet, 
the philosopher, the statesman, and no less the Christian and the 
church. The creed of the historic church will be a catholic creed, — 
not emphasizing the shibboleths of sect or school. As the historic 
testimony of the church to the true meaning of the Word of God, 
it will be borne in public, — and read upon solemn sacramental days. 
Why not, when no Fourth of July celebration is complete without a 
public reading of the Declaration of Independence? 'Ye shall know 
the truth," said Christ, "and the truth shall make you free." It 
should be owned and consented to by every one who is "set for the 
defence of the Gospel," ministers and office-bearers in the church; 
and for this use, the fuller the better; the freer from the double en- 
tendres of biblical phraseology, the better also. For the biblical 
phraseology is the very thing which the creed undertakes to in- 
terpret. 

Doctrinal articles being the products of the spiritual life, the 
developments of Christian experience Lrom the Word of God, we 
have in the creed thus formed the Word of God tested by history, — 
a test as much more conclusive than that of any individual mind as 
the sum of the Christian centuries is longer than a single life. And 
so we may say, slightly altering Shiller's famous phrase, the history 
of doctrine is the judgment of doctrine. In the evangelical creed, 
then, concerning man's sinfulness and moral impotence, Christ's 
atoning sacrifice, the Holy Ghost's regenerating work, the everlast- 
ing state of rewards and punishments, the deity of the Redeemer, 
and the tripersonality of God, we hear, not the scattered voices of 
individuals, but the authoritative testimony of History herself, re- 
affirming the declaration of the apostle, "These things are good and 
profitable unto men." This is nothing less than the testimony of 
time to the truth of eternity. 

A written creed, while tending often to controversy, when 
appealed to as an unvarying standard, has a certain practical 
advantage in taking a controverted subject out of the realm 
of necessary and constant definition. It has often been noted 
that denominations with no written creed are under special 
necessity of constantly defining their unwritten creed. If a 
written creed is not made an object of worship, is not upheld 
as something worthy of perpetual veneration, the writing of 
it may sometimes serve as a guarantee that certain doctrines 
contained in it do not require constant iteration. The writing 



238 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

of them permits of their being pigeonholed; they may be 
' ' folioed and forgot, ' ' yet if any one wants to know what was 
the last high- water mark of doctrine on that particular denom- 
inational shore, it is safely registered in a well authenticated 
creed, which may be produced on occasion and put away until 
needed again. Mark Twain wrote a story when the bell-punch 
first came to be used upon the street cars. The conductor was 
required to ' ' punch in the presence of the passenger. ' ' That 
phrase, with its lilt and alliteration, could but be provocative 
of an effort to make a jingle; and Mr. Clemens told how he 
made a couplet, which rang through his mind day and night, 
until it nearly drove him mad, but. which he was able finally 
to forget when he had taught it to some one else. There is a 
bit of genuine psychology in the story. A creed becomes both 
more and less harmful when it is written, and one good thing 
about the writing of it is that the writing may become a whole- 
some means to its removal from the sphere of active discussion, 
necessitated by unwritten creeds. 

As this book was moving toward the press, the second 
inaugural of Wilson and Marshall occurred. Vice-President 
Marshall 's inaugural address attracted some comment because 
it was confessedly a creed. He said, 

' ' May I make bold to insert in the record some elements of 
the creed which I have adopted in this period ? ' ' and then pro- 
ceeded to deliver his brief address in credal form. The creed, 
which occupied the whole of his brief address, consisted of 
these four articles, which the Vice-President amplified only a 
little, and which we may here condense : 

VICE-PRESIDENT MARSHALL'S CREED 

The creed which I have adopted in this period does not embrace 
what I know, but holds part of what I believe. 

I have faith that this government of ours was divinely ordained 
to disclose whether men are by nature fitted or can by education be 
made fit for self government. 

I believe that the world, now advancing and now retreating, is 
nevertheless moving forward to a far off divine event wherein the 



CREEDS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE 239 

tongues of Babel will again be blended in the language of a common 
brotherhood. ... I believe there is no finer form of government 
than the one under which we live) and that I ought to be willing to 
live or to die, as God decrees, that it may not perish from off the 
earth. 

I believe that though my first right is to be a partisan, that my 
first duty, when the only principles on which free government can 
rest are being strained, is to be, a patriot and to follow in a wilder- 
ness of words that clear call which bids me guard and defend the 
ark of our national covenant. 

This utterance was unique as to form only, and not as to 
fact. President Wilson's address was just as certainly a 
creed, uttered as his own creed and the nation's. With no 
violence to its spirit it could easily be recast as to the intro- 
ductory words of its successive clauses, so as to read : 

PRESIDENT WILSON'S CREED 

These, therefore, are the things we shall stand for, whether in 
war or in peace; 

We believe that all nations are equally interested in the peace 
of the world and in the political stability of free peoples, and equal- 
ly responsible for their maintainance ; 

We believe that the essential principle, of peace is the actual 
equality of nations in all matters of right or privilege ; 

We believe that peace cannot securely or justly rest upon an 
armed balance of power; 

We believe that governments derive all their just powers from 
the consent of the governed and that no other powers should be 
supported by the common thought, purpose or power of the family 
of nations. 

We believe that the seas should be equally free and safe for the 
use of all peoples, under rules set up by common agreement and con- 
sent, and that, so far as practicable, they should be accessible to 
all upon equal terms. 

That we believe national armaments should be limited to the 
necessities of national order and domestic safety. 

We believe that the community of interest and of power upon 
which peace must henceforth depend imposes upon each nation the 
duty of seeing to it that all influences proceeding from its own citi- 
zens meant to encourage or assist revolution in other states should 
be sternly and effectually suppressed and prevented. 

I need not argue these principles to you, my fellow countrymen; 
they are your own, part and parcel of your own thinking and your 
own motive in affairs. They spring up native among us. Upon this 
platform of purpose and of action we can stand together. 



240 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Every president's inaugural address of any note has been 
a creed. The significant utterances are all in terms not of 
knowledge but of faith and conviction. It is not the facts of 
demonstrable knowledge that move men, but their beliefs. No 
man is known to have laid down his life in support of his posi- 
tive knowledge that the multiplication table is true, nor shed 
his heart's blood to convince the world of the truth of the 
binomial theorem, nor gone singing to the stake to demonstrate 
the pons asinorum. "We believe, and therefore speak." The 
words of Vice-President Marshall in introducing his creed are 
pertinent : 

' ' The creed which I have adopted in this period .... 
does not embrace what I know, but holds part of what I be- 
lieve. ' ' 

It is said that a Congregational minister was once preach- 
ing in an Episcopal school, and that they brought him a sur- 
plice. He asked, 

"Am I required to wear this? Because, if I am not re- 
quired to wear it, I will ; but if I am required to wear it, I 
will not." 

That is an entirely consistent attitude for a Congrega- 
tionalist concerning many things about which Congregation- 
alists have appeared to be obstinate. They will go almost any 
length to walk in fellowship with other Christians until the 
element of assumed authority intrudes ; there they halt. Sur- 
plice, ritual and creed are to Congregationalists mere instru- ; 
ments of possible effective co-operation. "When so employed, 
they are not objected to, and may be gladly adopted. But 
when they become matters in which one Christian, calling him- 
self bishop or pope, or one group of Christians, calling itself 
by whatever name, seeks to impose a form of words upon an- 
other Christian or group of Christians, then Congregational- 
ists stop, and if necessary, fight. 

There is occasion now and then for Congregationalists to 
dissent from the well meant endeavor of some honored member 



CREEDS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE 241 

of their own communion, who, impressed by what seems to 
him the importance of a particular doctrine, may demand that 
some ecclesiastical body, or the whole denomination, go on 
record concerning it in a manner that virtually makes it a 
creedal test. In such a case the question is not whether the 
members affected believe or do not believe the particular doc- 
trine affirmed and sought to be imposed ; the question is of the 
right of any Congregationalist or other person to place the 
denomination, or any part thereof, on record in terms of his 
own choosing. 

This is one reason why, at a service or ordination or 
installation, the candidate is always permitted first to state his 
belief in his own terms; no other Congregationalist has the 
right to choose for him the form of words in which he shall 
be compelled to express his faith. It is a reason why in the 
early churches individual Christians applying for membership 
often presented written statements of their own setting forth 
in their own language the faith which they professed. 

Charming spoke not primarily for Unitarianism but for 
historic Congregationalism in his noble utterance against 
bondage to creeds. 

When I bring them into contrast with the New Testament, into 
what insignificance do they sink! What are they? Skeletons, freez- 
ing abstractions, metaphysical expressions of unintelligible dogmas; 
and these I am to regard as the expositions of the fresh, living, in- 
finite truth which came from Jesus! I might with equal propriety 
be required to hear and receive the lispings of infancy as the ex- 
pressions of wisdom. Creeds are to the Scriptures what rushlights 
are to the sun. The creed-maker defines Jesus in half a dozen lines, 
perhaps in metaphysical terms, and calls me to assent to this ac- 
count of my Saviour. I learn less of Christ, by this process, than 
I should learn of the sun, by being told that this glorious luminary 
is a circle about a foot in diameter. There is but one way of know- 
ing Christ. We must place ourselves near him, see him, hear him, 
follow him from his cross to the, heavens, sympathize with him and 
obey him, and thus catch clear and bright glimpses of his divine 
glory. 

Christian truth is infinite. Who can think of shutting it up in 
a few lines of an abstract creed? You might as well compress the 
boundless atmosphere, the fire, the all-pervading light, the free 



242 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

winds of the universe, into separate parcels, and weigh and label 
them, as break up Christianity into a few propositions. Christian- 
ity is freer, more illimitable, than the light or the winds. It is too 
mighty to be bound down by man's puny hands. It is a spirit, 
rather than a rigid doctrine, — the spirit of boundless love. The in- 
finite cannot be defined and measured out like a human manufac- 
ture. It cannot be reduced to a system. It cannot be comprehend- 
ed in a set of precise ideas. It is to be felt rather than described. 
The spiritual impressions which a true Christian receives from 
the character and teachings of Christ, and in which thei chief ef- 
ficacy of the religion lies, can be poorly brought out in words. Words 
are but brief, rude hints of a Christian's mind. Its thoughts and 
feelings overflow them. To those, who feel as he does, he can make 
himself known; for such can understand the tones of the heart; 
but he can no more lay down his religion in a series of abstract 
propositions, than he can make known by a few vague terms the 
expressive features and inmost soul of a much-loved friend. It 
has been the fault of all sects, that they have been too anxious to 
define their religion. They have labored to circumscribe the in- 
finite. Christianity, as it exists in the mind of the true disciple, is 
not made up of fragments, of separate ideas, which he can express 
in detached propositions. It is a vast and ever-unfolding whole, 
pervaded by one spirit, each precept and doctrine deriving its vi- 
tality from its union with all. When I see this generous, heavenly 
doctrine compressed and cramped in human creeds, I feel as I 
should were I to see screws and chains applied to the countenance 
and limbs of a noble fellow-creature, deforming and destroying one 
of the most beautiful works of God. 

From the infinity of Christian truth, of which I have spoken, 
it follows that our views of it must always be very imperfect, and 
ought to be continually enlarged. The wisest theologians' are 
children who have caught but faint glimpses of the religion; who 
have taken but their first lessons; and whose business it is "to 
grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ." Need I say how hostile 
to this growth is a fixed creed, beyond which we must never wander? 
Such a religion as Christ's demands the highest possible activity and 
freedom of the soul. Every new gleam of light should be welcomed 
with joy. Every hint should be followed out with eagerness. Every 
whisper of the divine voice in the soul should be heard. The love of 
Christian truth should be so intense, as to make us willing to part 
with all other things for a better comprehension of it. Who does not 
see that human creeds, setting bounds to thought, and telling us 
where all inquiry must stop, tend to repress this holy zeal, to shut 
our eyes on new illumination, to hem us within the beaten paths of 
man's construction, to arrest that perpetual progress which is the 
life and glory of an immortal mind? 

It is another and great objection to creeds, that, wherever they 
acquire authority, they interfere with that simplicity and godly sin- 
cerity on which the efficacy of religious teaching very much de- 
pends. That a minister should speak with power, it is important 
that he should speak from his own soul, and not studiously con- 



CREEDS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE 243 

form himself to modes of speaking which others have adopted. It 
is important that he should give out the truth in the very form in 
which it presents itself to his mind, in the very words which offer 
themselves spontaneously as the clothing of his thoughts. To ex- 
press our own minds frankly, directly, fearlessly, is the way to 
reach other minds. Now it is ,the effect of creeds to check this 
free utterance of thought. The minister must seek words which 
will not clash with the consecrated articles of his church. If new 
ideas spring up in his mind, not altogether consonant with what 
the, creedmonger has established, he must cover them with misty 
language. It he happen to doubt the standard of his church, he 
must strain its phraseology, must force it beyond its obvious im- 
port, that he may give his assent to it without departures from 
truth. All these processes must have, a blighting effect on the 
mind and heart. They impair self-respect. They cloud the intel- 
lectual eye. They accustom men to tamper with truth. In propor- 
tion as a man dilutes his thought, and suppresses his conviction, 
to save his orthodoxy from suspicion; in proportion as he borrows 
his words from others, instead of speaking in his own tongue; in 
proportion as he distorts language from its common use, that he 
may stand well with his party; in that proportion he clouds and 
degrades his intellect, as well as undermines the manliness and in- 
tegrity of his character. How deeply do I commiserate the minister, 
who, in the warmth and freshness of youth, is visited with glimpses 
of higher truth than is embodied in the creed, but who dares not 
be just to himself, and is made, to echo what is not the simple, 
natural expression of his own mind! Better were it for us to beg 
our bread and clothe ourselves in rags, than to part with Christian 
simplicity and frankness. Better for a minister to preach in barns 
or the open air, where he may speak the truth from the fulness of 
his soul, than to lift up in cathedrals, amidst pomp and wealth, a 
voice which is not true, to his inward thoughts. If they who wear 
the chains of creeds once knew the happiness of breathing the air 
of freedom, and of moving with an unencumbered spirit, no wealth 
or power in the world's gift would bribe them to part with their 
spiritual liberty. 

Great violence has been done to the teaching of the New 
Testament in the effort to make it appear that subjects of 
baptism were first required to assent to a creed. Particularly 
has this error attached itself to the two incidents of the bap- 
tism of the Philippian jailor and of the Ethopian eunuch. 
In the ease of the former it is important to remember that 
Paul's word, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou 
shalt be saved ; ' ' cannot by any posisbility have suggested to 
the jailor the idea of a credal test. It must have meant to 
him the simplest possible committal of his life in trust to the 



244 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Master who had given such power and courage as the jailor 
beheld in Paul and Silas. The jailor knew practically noth- 
ing about Jesus except what he saw reflected in the fortitude 
of these brave disciples. Nothing would have been farther 
from the sphere of possibility than that he should have for- 
mulated a creed, or been able intelligently to have assented to 
one. Neither there nor anywhere else in the New Testament 
was belief identical with an intellectual affirmation. Believ- 
ing in Christ is not the same as conjecturing something about 
Christ. Saving faith is quite another thing than the formu- 
lation of a correct opinion. 

In the case of the Ethiopian eunuch we meet with a clear 
interpolation. The Revised Versions unhesitatingly omit the 
verse (Acts 8: 37) in which Philip is made to impose a creed 
upon his convert. The eunuch saw water and said, ''Behold, 
here is water ; what doth hinder me to be baptized 1 ' ' And the 
account goes straight on to tell that he commanded the chariot 
to stand still, and that they both descended, and Philip bap- 
tized him. A good while afterward, when it had become cus- 
tomary for catecumens to make a confession of their faith pre- 
liminary to baptism, some good man reading the account 
thought Philip had been negligent, and invented the little dia- 
logue in which Philip said, "If thou believest with all thy 
heart, thou mayest. ' ' And according to this interesting fiction 
the eunuch answered, ' ' I believe that Jesus Christ is the son 
cf God." 

Very likely the eunuch did so believe, to the extent that 
such a belief was possible at the end of one brief lesson, given 
under the conditions described; and that belief was a factor 
by no means negligible in the decision of the eunuch to ask 
for baptism, and in the readiness of Philip to administer it. 
But it was the afterthought of a creed-making generation that 
caused Philip to thrust between him and his baptism the for- 
mality of assent to a creed. 



CREEDS: THEIR USE AND ABUSE 245 

It needs to be said a thousand times that faith in Christ 
is a very different thing from opinion or conjecture concerning 
Christ. Men have sought repeatedly and with great damage 
to Christianity to identify faith with intellectual opinion. 
Such an effort involves a hopeless confusion of mind as to the 
essential content of faith. 

Many good people have assumed that their faith in the 
divinity of Jesus Christ was in some way bound up with their 
ability to declare their unfaltering confidence in the doctrine 
of the Virgin Birth. It is impossible to find in the teaching of 
Jesus any word from which one might infer that He had any 
particular interest in such a doctrine, or that He would ever 
have consented that faith in Him should be dependent upon its 
acceptance. 

During the period of Abraham Lincoln's candidacy for 
the presidency reports were circulated in every part of the 
nation that he was an illegitimate child. If Herndon, Lin- 
coln's law partner, is to be believed, Lincoln himself thought 
this to be true and was profoundly saddened by it. Not till 
many years afterward was the record of his parents' legal 
marriage established, more than a year before his birth, and 
recorded in another county than that in which Lincoln ap- 
pears to have believed it should have been recorded. Did 
the man who in 1860 or 1864 voted for Lincoln, saying as he 
did so, "I believe in Abraham Lincoln, ' ' mean by that he had 
confidence that there somewhere existed a certificate of mar- 
riage of Abraham Lincoln 's parents ? Was every man a traitor 
who had an honest doubt upon this question ? If so, Herndon 
was a traitor, and probably Lincoln also. As a matter of fact 
a voter might easily have said, ' ' I hope those reports are false, 
but I have no means of proving that to be the case; and 
whether they are false or true I believe in Abraham Lincoln. ' ' 
In like manner a Christian may say, ' ' I should be very sorry 
to lose out of the Christmas story the beautiful narrative in 
the beginning of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke ; but if I 



246 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

should ever become convinced that these were the reverent 
efforts of a later age to account for the unique personality of 
Jesus, and that He was in fact the legitimate son of Joseph 
and Mary, born in lawful wedlock, upon whom came the Holy 
Ghost in such measure that God became manifest in His flesh, 
I should still believe in Him as the Son of God, my Lord 
and Saviour." 

Such a man's faith in Jesus Christ would rest upon his 
belief in what Jesus was and is, and) not on any speculative 1 
opinion as to how He becomes so. 

There is an important distinction between the confession 
of faith in a creed, and in adherence to the system of faith 
which the creed embodies. The man who drinks from a spring 
may express his gratitude for the water with little thought of 
the vessel in which the water is conveyed to his lips. Our 
fathers expressed their faith through certain creeds, but their 
faith was not identical with the creeds. It was always a greater 
thing than the creeds could by any possibility confine. No 
one lake reflects the whole heaven; no one cup contains the 
ocean out of which it dips water. Our fathers drank of the 
Eock that followed them, and we drink of the same flowing 
stream. Their creed was their cup, and because it conveyed 
the water of their spiritual life we honor it. But we confess 
our loyalty to the same faith, perhaps in quite other forms. 
Certainly our faith must be confessed in the language of our 
own generation. 



II. THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 

Few subjects have given rise to more distress among min- 
isters than those arising out of questions of conscience touching 
the authority of creeds. To what extent is a minister bound by 
the creed he is supposed to have accepted? It might be sup- 
posed that in the Roman Catholic Church a priest would be 
able to say that the church has assumed the responsibility of 
determining what he shall teach, and that between his personal, 
opinions as a man and his official utterances as a priest, there 
is a great gulf fixed. Many priests do assume just this and 
their consciences may be supposed to be more or less clear, but 
we have abundant witness that in all ages the more conscien- 
tious and consistent even of Roman Catholic priests have not 
been wholly satisfied with this view of the case. Thousands 
of distinguished priests have been lost to that and to the Epis- 
copal Church because they could no longer subscribe to 
creeds which they did not believe. Still more keen has been 
the anguish of ministers whose churches hold no such theory of 
responsibility assumed by ecclesiastical authority. Some min- 
isters have felt constrained to retire from the ministry almost 
at the first divergence of their own views from those of the 
creeds by which they supposed themselves to have been bound. 
Others have gone hastily into their pulpits, denouncing all 
creeds, particularly the creeds to which they have themselves 
subscribed, and this usually with little comfort to their own 
consciences, or to the peace of mind of their congregations. 

High ecclesiastics have been prone to the same narrow 
view as the business man. Lord Morley's strong essay on 
"Compromise" in his lectures on "The Ethics of -Religious 
Conformity and Clerical Veracity ' ' is able but one-sided. His 

247 



248 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

fundamental declaration, "It makes all the difference in the 
world whether we put Truth in the first place, or in the second 
place, ' ' has settled the question for a great many people who 
wanted a short-cut to a solution of a difficult problem. For, 
in a different spirit than that of Pilate, we must ask, What 
is Truth? The particular truth on which Lord Morley based 
his declaration was the indubitable fact that a particular min- 
ister had assented to a particular creed and therefore in the 
interests of truth must hold and teach it. Is this all there is 
of the matter? Has the minister assented to that creed as a 
complete, final and unalterable compendium of truth? Not 
in Congregationalism certainly, and how is larger truth ever 
to be discovered if no man is at liberty to discover anything 
not already embodied in a creed? Something more than ab- 
stract truth must be invoked in judging men. If one is to put 
truth in the first place he must place side by side with his 
creed subscription his higher loyalty to the spirit of Christ, 
which is to lead men into all truth. 

The case against ministers who continue to recite creeds 
whose words no longer adequately express their own views, 
was ably set forth a score of years ago i>y Henry Sedgwick 
in his ' ' Practical Ethics, ' ' containing his two essays on ' ' The 
Ethics of Religious Conformity," and "Clerical Veracity." 
Sedgwick, who had studied for the Anglican ministry, gave up 
his fellowship and his plan to enter the priesthood when he 
found that he could not subscribe to the creeds of the Episco- 
pal Church. Choosing as his profession teaching instead of 
preaching, he maintained a strong interest in the profession 
which he had abandoned. He held that "Hypocrisy and in- 
sincere conformity have always been a besetting vice of es- 
tablished or predominant religion." He had no sympathy 
with men who occupy positions in a church whose fundamental 
tenets they have discarded. He scorned men who seem to be- 
lieve "that any clergyman may lie without scruple in the 
cause of religious progress, with a view to aiding popular 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 249 

education in the new theology, and still feel that he is as 
veracious as his profession allows him to be. ' ' 

Sedgwick, therefore, is heldi in high regard by all ecclesi- 
asts who hold the letter of the law above the spirit. He has 
been heartily commended of late by the Bishop of Oxford, and 
has received favorable mention by Archibald Wier in an arti- 
cle with the caustic title ' s Criminous Clerks ' ' in the Hibbart 
Journal (July 1914). That article proposed to raise an en- 
dowment fund "for facilitating the resignation of doubting 
clergymen," and spoke of the possible benefit to secular life 
of having men who now are held in bondage to creeds they do 
not believe, but who might be very useful in other vocations. 

But that article has been answered by several men of 
high standing who set forth with considerable cogency that the 
matter is not ethically so simple as these essays assume. 

The Athenasian Creed is still required to be uttered by 
priests in the Anglican Church. The ecclesiastics who stead- 
fastly resist every attempt to make its reading optional are 
also busy inventing verbal subleties by means of which men 
may continue to recite it without supposing themselves to be 
required to believe it. What does that creed affirm or assume 
to be the essential thing of Christianity? 

The Athenasian Creed begins with this affirmation. 
"Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary 
that he hold the Catholic faith; which faith except everyone 
do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall ever- 
lastingly perish." Then it goes on through forty-four arti- 
cles to make affirmations which it is completely impossible for 
any intelligent mind to hold consistently, — affirmations that 
are thoroughly self-contradictory and which abound in meta- 
physical subleties. Virtually, there is nothing of the spirit of 
the Gospel of Jesus in this creed from beginning to end. Yet 
it ends as it begins with a declaration of the reality of ever- 
lasting fire, into which each man is to be cast who does not 
believe this creed in its entirety. 



250 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Now there is not a man in the Church of England or out 
of it who can whole-heartedly and unreservedly say he believes 
that creed and that the man who does not believe it to its 
last speculation is a proper subject for eternal damnation. 
The mind utterly revolts at the inherent atrocity of any such 
conception. Yet there is the creed, which by good fortune the 
Episcopal Church in America got rid of when it effected an 
organization separate from the Church of England, but at 
that same time the American Episcopal Church endeavored to 
free itself from the incubus of the Nicene Creed and came 
very near to accomplishing this desire. The Church of Eng- 
land refused its consent to so wholesale a demolition of creeds. 
It was quite willing that the American Episcopalians should 
discard the Athenasian Creed, and perhaps would have been 
glad itself to be rid of it if it could have done so and saved its 
face, but it feared lest the American Episcopalians should 
carry the process too far. Therefore, in the final adjustment 
the Nicene Creed was saddled upon the American Episcopal 
Church against its desire. Did that fact make American 
Episcopalians any more orthodox, either now or then? Was 
the American Episcopal Church any less orthodox than it had 
been before, or became afterward during the few months when 
it did not consider itself as bound by the Nicene Creed? As 
a matter of fact, is that creed any more than the Athenasian 
Creed a certificate of orthodoxy? 

But who that reads the Athenasian Creed, declaring that 
' ' Before all things it is necessary ' ' to believe a lot of absurdi- 
ties or go to hell, can comprehend how the people who framed 
that intolerable fetter of the human spirit were endeavoring 
to set forth the essential truth which Jesus uttered in the 
Sermon on the Mount, or in Paul 'si triumphant declaration of 
the freedom of the soul in the Gospel of the Son of God ? 

On creed-subscription as affording a supposed basis for 
orthodoxy in the pulpit or in the professor's chair, a wise 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 251 

word has been uttered by Prof. Clarence A. Beckwith, of 
Chicago Theological Seminary : 

Creed-subscription is the relic of an antiquated ecclesiastical 
or political condition in which the ruling power claimed absolute 
authority over the beliefs and actions of men. The motive was to 
guard against any deviation from the given standard which would 
issue in teaching or practice out of accord with the centralized 
decision or dogma which had been ordained. 

In its ecclesiastical bearings it appears to me that creed-sub- 
scription rests upon several untenable assumptions : 

(1) That a particular organization imposing this requirement, 
possesses the "final faith," and that the tenets to which subscrip- 
tion is demanded are stated in such terms as admit of but one inter- 
pretation. 

(2) That the creed proposed contains the complete and there- 
fore the only teaching of the Scriptures on the matters in question. 

(3) That it would be possible for two men to assign an identical 
meaning to any and all propositions which belong to the field of 
theological doctrine. 

(4) That a body of men, all of whom are fallible, who formu- 
late a creed which is in every instance a compromise and therefore 
does not express the exact belief of any individual, have a right to 
require of a fellow-man, equally gifted with them in mental and 
spiritual furnishing, that he yield to their dogmas an unquestion- 
ing and unqualified assent. 

(5) That every teacher has not the same right of freedom of 
inquiry and opinion which was claimed by those who propounded 
the creed in question, and that in the use of the same freedom he 
may not react to his environment as fully as they supposed they 
reacted to theirs. 

(6) That one's attitude toward reality is static rather than 
dynamic, and that therefore truth may be "fixed in an eternal state" 
rather than subject to development of the human consciousness, 
deriving its authority not from without but from its progressive 
authentication within the unfolding processes of experience. 

.-. As far as I can see none, of these assumptions is valid, except 
within the Roman Catholic church, and even there the assumptions 
are not universally recognized. As Protestants we are committed to 
the alone sufficiency of the Scriptures and the indefeasible right 
of private judgment; as Congregationalists we follow John Robinson 
in his conviction that God has yet more truth to break forth from 
his Word; as Christians we can allow no one to wrest from us the 
prerogative which we have received from Jesus Christ, of being 
guided into 1 all the truth. And unless we are prepared to offer un- 
pardonable affront to the very principle of our intelligence, we 
cannot admit that the divine promise is yet fully realized — not at 
the Council of Nicaea, not at Trent, not in the XXXIX Articles, not 
in the Westminister Confession. 

Creed-subscription, if it is at all rigid and is enforced, is on 
the whole detrimental to the very institutions which adhere to it. In 



252 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

the first place, it advertizes the institution as an anachronism, os- 
tensibly living in the present but anchored to an outworn past, 
afraid to cut loose and set sail with its precious heritage of faith 
into a yet more radiant and rationally satisfying future. Again, the 
institution which smothers free inquiry and holds ever so silent a 
threat over the head of its instructors, is inviting to itself the ugly 
suspicion of contemporary scholars that intellectual results ac- 
quired by such repressive measures are, untrustworthy and the 
teachers themselves insincere. Finally, among the students of such 
institutions two diametrically opposite, results appear: One group, 
the openminded, the noblest, and most promising men, violently 
react against the teaching, especially when they become aware of 
its dogmatic and unsubstantial basis, and become thenceforth in- 
susceptible to such guiding influences as they need now more than 
they will ever need them again. The other group, timid, lacking 
self-reliance, leaning on external authority, tend to become un- 
thinking in judgment, narrowly partisan, and if perchance they are 
strong men, advocates of solidarity of organization, of strict dogma 
in the pulpit and the seminary chair, finding a vent for pent up 
powers in social activities where no dogmatic barriers hinder, them- 
selves perhaps most venturesome in this field, but all the time in- 
hospitable to advances in theological thought. A seminary may 
muzzle or bind its instructors, but fortunately it cannot compel the 
respect of students or of other institutions either for itself or for 
its teaching force. 

In my judgment the only safe course for an institution of 
learning is, first to find the man it wants, and then to encourage 
him in an untrameled freedom both of scholarly inquiry and of 
formal instruction. 

Although Congregationalism has always stood opposed to 
the principle of compulsory creed subscription, our denomina- 
tion has sometimes fallen a victim to its own logic in its de- 
mand upon the consciences of those within its communion upon 
whom creeds have been imposed. Examples have not been 
lacking of a tyranny within the Congregational communion 
regarding matters of creed subscription which would hardly 
be tolerated in denominations whose regard for creeds is much 
higher than our own. There has been a disposition in our 
denomination to say that "a, man ought not to be compelled 
to assent to a creed, but if he does assent he must believe it 
to the last line, and if he is a minister he must preach it. If 
the time comes when he cannot conscientiously affirm his be- 
lief in every article of the creed, he should get out. It is dis- 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION "553 

honest for him to draw a salary on the basis of a contract that 
he will preach a certain creed and then not preach it." 

Denominations which adhere to creeds that are handed 
down from generation to generation are compelled to accept 
a much more elastic interpretation than this. Ministers and 
professors of ecclesiastical law within these communions parse 
and analyze their creeds with great care and skill in order to 
ease the consciences of those who find subscription difficult. 
The average Congregational minister who reads Newman's 
Tract XC is likely to be astounded at the subtlety of his argu- 
ment and the ingenuity with which he appears to show that 
certain sentences, phrases, and words of the thirty-nine Ar- 
ticles may truthfully be interpreted as meaning the precise 
reverse of what the original authors of the creed intended 
those words to mean. The author of "The Kernel and the 
Husk" sets forth with discriminating logic the right of a 
clergyman to lead his congregation in the Athenasian Creed 
although himself rejecting it; and thei right of a believer in a 
non-miraculous Christianity to remain a minister of the 
Church of England. Rev. E. W. Lummis, of Cambridge, 
England, in a recent article in the Hibbert Journal, on "Ver- 
acity and Conformity ' ' takes the ground that the words of the 
liturgy of the Church are not intended to declare any per- 
sonal opinion, and that it is a wicked waste for the Church 
so to construe her creeds as that her most conscientious min- 
isters shall be driven out while those less scrupulous remain 
within. 

If any good end is served by the exclusion of these men from 
the ministry, let them remain in exile,. The welfare of the Church 
may well outweigh much agony of soul in individual Christians. 
But it is difficult to see what good end is served by the exclusion 
of the scrupulously veracious, while their less scrupulous fellows 
(less scrupulous on this single point) are admitted. Rather it 
would appear that the Church herself must suffer by the loss of 
some of the best and best-equipped minds from her service. Is 
there any way of bringing it about that a scrupulous verbal ver- 
acity shall no longer disqualify for Holy Orders? 



254 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

It might be possible to save these wasted men for the Church 
by establishing in the common sense of the Church itself a convic- 
tion that the words of her lithurgy are not meant to declare any 
personal opinion, or to bind the intellect within a narrow hedge 
of doctrine; that their whole value lies in their appeal to faith, 
hope, and love, those weightier matters, beside which doctrines and 
forms are idle things. After all, verbal veracity is the lowest 
stage of truth, and only exists so long as words are interpreted on 
their lowest plane, as vehicles of mere information. Is religion 
concerned with this? Her interest lies in wisdom, power, and holi- 
ness. The noble lithurgy of the English Church, rescued from the 
sordid mesh of opinion and dialectic, would be found rich in the 
truth of wisdom, which has inspired all that is best in Protestant- 
ism, and the truth of power, which has lived through all the, cor- 
ruptions of Catholicism, and would help us all, liberal and ortho- 
dox, towards the higher wisdom of holiness. If this last way could 
be pursued it would soon make any other way superfluous; for it 
would inevitably happen, with or without statutory revision, that 
jarring and unhelpful phrases would disappear, by disuse, from 
the lithurgy, leaving the rest in greater beauty and strength. With 
them would go the pest of esotericism, some scandal, and much pain. 
Perhaps this mode of ending the evil, even if the time is not yet 
quite ripe for it, may soon dawn above the horizon of the possible. 

A thoughtful article in the London Churchman, while 
not going to this length, protests earnestly against the Athe- 
nasian Creed as ' ' a veritable wire-entanglement of orthodoxy, 
charged with the high power electricity of the threat of dam- 
nation." Protesting mildly against the extreme elasticity of 
conscience of those who follow the logic of Newman, it never- 
theless maintains that corporate worship requires the employ- 
ment of forms which must not be understood as expressing 
individual assent at every point. 

It is not easy for Congregationalists to give themselves 
the benefit of these elasticities; but it is a fair question 
whether we as a denomination have not been too literal in the 
interpretation of such creeds as we hold. Certainly it is not 
right that we should leap from the frying-pan into the fire, 
or that beginning with the highest regard for spiritual 
freedom we should interpret such creeds as obtain among us 
in terms that make for spiritual bondage. With a great price 
our fathers obtained freedom from the tyrany of creeds. We, 
if we employ confessions of faith, should see to it that the form 



THE ETHICS OP CREED SUBSCRIPTION 255 

of our subscription to them, and especially that the form of 
any subscription that we impose upon others, shall be in keep- 
ing with our traditions of spiritual liberty. 

An interesting incident which seems to the author to bear 
upon this principle, was raised in the Congregational 
Conference of Illinois in 1915, by a memorial from the 
Elgin Association, introduced by the honored pastor of the 
Elgin Church, Rev. Charles L. Morgan, D. D., in which, among 
other things, the Conference was asked to go on record, af- 
firming the faith of its members "in the deity of Jesus, His 
miraculous birth, His miraculous works, and His miraculous 
resurrection. ' ' This was referred to the Committee on Polity, 
of which committee the author of the present volume is chair- 
man, and this committee in the Roekford meeting of 1915 and 
in a further report at Rogers Park in 1916, reported adversely, 
taking the ground that the resolutions of the Elgin Association 
virtually sought to impose a creed on the State Conference. 
To this, Dr. Morgan, a courteous and able disputant, replied, 
and his address is printed in the Minutes of the State Con- 
ference : 

Let me emphasize this, that in affirming our continued faith in 
the deity of Jesus, his miraculous birth, works and resurrection, 
we are not making a creed, nor are we imposing any test whatever 
upon any church or minister of this Conference. The Report of the 
Polity Committee, in the portrayal of these Resolutions as a "test" 
has wholly forgotten Paul's counsel to "fight not as beating the 
air." The Resolutions offer no slightest suggestion of a "creed 
test." For one, I should most vigorously oppose the establishment 
of any creed test. I believe, as do we all, in the perfect liberty of 
every Church, Association and Conference to make its own creed 
statements, so long as we remember the unity of the spirit in the 
evangelical bond of faith. 

I believe in no creedal tests, and I protest as strongly as any 
can against the literal statement of any creed, ancient or modern, 
becoming the binding test of either church or ministerial fellow- 
ship. 

The adoption of the resolution reaffirming our faith in the deity 
of Jesus, in His miraculous birth, His miraculous works and His 
miraculous resurrection will simply mean our testimony to our con- 
tinued faith in those four great truths which have been the very 
warp and woof of practically every great Christian creed for nine- 



256 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

teen centuries. No one can truthfully deny this. That "the Word 
became flesh;" that Jesus was God present in the flesh, the right- 
ful object of a worship which, for any but God, would be gross 
sacrilege; that this Son of God was miraculously born into this 
world; that He wrought, miracles; that He miraculously rose from 
the dead; why these are the monumental facts on which Chris- 
tianity has, for all the centuries, rested. They are, the facts, 
without which, Christianity could not have been, and without which, 
as history has shown, the power of the Church quickly vanishes. 

That, when, as a Conference, we, are asked to reaffirm our 
faith in these great facts, we should decline on the ground that 
so we assent to "a test" (as the Committee has mistakenly in- 
timated) is to wholly misconceive the intent of the Resolutions. 
Such an assent establishes no test whatever, nor is it so intended. 
It is simply to vote our reaffirmation of those great truths. The 
reason presented by the Polity Committee for the refusal of such 
assent is a fallacious one. Indeed, none more strenuously than 
its honored Chairman has repeatedly insisted that no creed ever 
adopted by our churches was adopted as a test. How much less, 
then, can a simple vote of confidence in such basal truths of Chris- 
tianity be a test? It is an argument which evades the! real issue 
and seeks to avoid the reaffirmation of these truths by skillful 
dialectics. Surely the members of this Conference know that 
from twelve to fourteen times, either directly or through our rep- 
resentatives, our churches, during the past 300 years have declared 
their faith in creeds already existing or in credal statements of 
their own. We all deny that any of these creeds are, "tests," 
and yet our Polity Committee insists that such a simple vote of 
confidence as you are asked to pass in these four fundamental 
truths will be such "a test" as we cannot wisely adopt. I think 
the inconsistency of such an attitude must be clear to all. 

Brethren, for this Conference to deliberately refuse assent to 
Resolutions affirming faith in these central truths, would seem 
to me one of the most serious misfortunes that can befall our 
churches. No dust of rhetoric or casuistry respecting the attitude 
of our churches towards creeds, will blind the great membership 
of our churches to the real significance of such a refusal. It will 
say that the ministers and laymen, comprising this Conference, 
while, in one breath declaring allegiance to the faith of the fathers, 
in almost the same breath refused assent to four of those great 
truths without which that faith could never have had the slightest 
value. 

To this earnest appeal, however, the answer in the light 
of our Congregational traditions is plain. The question is 
not whether the members of the Congregational Conference 
of Illinois believe or do not believe in the doctrines embodied 
in the Elgin Quadrilateral. Their refusal to affiirm their 
faith in these particular terms affords no presumption that 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 257 

they do not so believe. Not even so good and honored a man 
as the late pastor of the Elgin Church has a right to impose 
his form of stating these four, or any other four, doctrines, on 
one of the least of his brethren, much less upon all his breth- 
ren. Not only has the Elgin Association, being a smaller and 
constitutent body, no right to impose its creed upon the State 
Conference, but the State Conference, being larger, and includ- 
ing* in its membership the whole of the Elgin Association, has 
no right to impose its own creed upon the Elgin Association, or 
upon the Elgin Church, or the Elgin pastor. A very much 
larger principle is at stake in any such matter than appears 
on the face of it. The Congregational churches and their min- 
isters stand fast in the liberality wherewith Christ hath made 
them free, and their affirmation of their freedom is no pre- 
sumption that they are disloyal to any particular article of 
faith, however strongly they may resist an attempt to compel 
them to stand and deliver in terms of the faith of some other 
person or ecclesiastical body. So the Conference decided at 
its meeting in Galesburg in May 1917, when it declined to en- 
dorse the Elgin Memorial. Those who insist that a creed must 
be interpreted in its baldest and most uncompromising form, 
and that those who accept it are to be permitted no latitude of 
interpretation, may profitably consider some facts which 
become patent as soon as we undertake a study of the 
history of creeds. One of these is that nearly all creeds 
represent the triumph of majority over a minority. Some 
of them originated in heated debate and were passed 
by a relatively small majority. If we are to assume 
that the Spirit of God was granted in some measure 
to the majority of the assembly, which enacted the creed, are 
we wholly to deny the guidance of the same Spirit to those 
who were in the minority? May it not have been true that 
the majority wrought into its declaration an over-statement of 
that aspect of the truth which constituted the chief message 
of the creed, and that the creed would more nearly have em- 



258 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

bodied the whole counsel of G-od if it had included some as- 
pects of truth which were vainly urged by the minority and 
ruthlessly voted down? Are we sure that we can honor the 
Spirit of God in the men who succeeded in getting their views 
enacted in the creed if we dishonor the Spirit of God in the 
often equally intelligent, sincere and righteous minority, 
which, but for some fortuitous incident might have given to 
the creed a very different emphasis with respect to some of its 
doctrine ? 

The promise of Christ to his Church is that the Holy 
Spirit is to lead the Church into all truth ; that promise must 
never be restricted in such fashion asi to imply a monopoly of 
the Holy Spirit by any particular group. Sabatier in his 
notable work, ' ' Religions of Authority, ' ' sets forth in earnest 
and truthful terms the amplitude of this promise, and the in- 
evitable evil that has resulted from the many limitations which 
from time to time have been put upon it. 

Jesus Christ promised his disciples the help and guidance of the 
Spirit of God, in all circumstances, for all their needs, and in all 
that they should have to do or suffer, but in! no sense to constitute 
a new Scriptural code to which Christians would thenceforth be 
forever enslaved. How, then, came it to pass that the Church 
learned to distrust the Master's promise, and hastened to build up 
again that which he destroyed — the absolute authority of the so- 
called divine letter? 

The Church was incredulous, and it still is so as regards the 
doctrine of the Holy Spirit. She has limited inspiration to bishops, 
the hierarchy, the Pope, or else to the authors whose writings are 
collected between the covers of the New Testament, and has denied 
it to ordinary Christians; and for them she has created a new 
authority, thus depriving them of the liberty which Christ conquered 
for every son of the Father. 

The dogma which made the Holy Spirit a metaphysical entity 
paralyzed and killed his dynamic influence in the Christian life. 
In the, Old Testament and the New the Spirit represented the divine 
principle in the human soul, the imminent influence of the living 
God. Elevated into the empyrean of the Trinity it has become tran- 
scendent, not less apart from the world than the two other divine 
persons, and thus it too has need of a mediating organ by which to 
be revealed and made active; it has become incarnate and therefore 
localized either in the Catholic hierarchy or in the code, of Scrip- 
ture. Nothing could be farther from the thought or promise of 
Jesus. — Sabatier: "Religions of Authority," p. 299. 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 259 

The promise of the Holy Spirit was given not to the 
apostles but to the whole Church. The cloven firey tongues 
sat not upon the apostolic twelve alone but upon the whole 
company, men and women, numbering one hundred and 
twenty. The promise was not for the clergy alone ; it belonged 
and still belongs to the laity as well. The promise was not for 
that age only, but was for every age. The promise was not for 
majorities alone, but belongs also in their due measure to 
minorities. If we are to assume, as we ought to assume, that 
the Holy Spirit was granted to Augustine, in his stout defense 
of what in his day was accounted to be orthodoxy, we are 
justified also in believing that the Holy Spirit was given in 
some measure to the men whom he opposed, some of whom were 
hardly inferior to him in character, scholarship and piety, emi- 
nent as Augustine was in all these particulars. If we are to 
assume, as we may and probably should, that the Holy Spirit 
was present in the council of Nicea, which in 325 A. D., with 
great unanimity condemned Arius and his heresies, how can 
we deny the presence of that same Spirit in the Synods of 
Tyre and Jerusalem ten years later, approving the teachings 
of Arius as being soundly orthodox ? If we are to ascribe to 
Calvin a large measure of the Spirit of God in his admirable 
defense of the sovereignity of God, how can we deny a 
measure of the same Spirit to Socinus, who in spite of bitter 
persecution proclaimed with equal circumspection and courage 
the truths which were needed to balance the teachings of 
Calvin, but which in that age could only be regarded as 
destructive of fundamental truth and utterly irreconcilable 
with doctrines necessary to salvation? How can we ever be 
safe in affirming a creed that is essentially Calvinistic without 
leaving mental room for those enlargements and counterbal- 
ancing considerations which the Holy Spirit still working in 
the church now shows to have been lacking in the particular 
system, which, rather fortunately on the whole, were able to 
get themselves wrought into creeds, but always at some ex- 
pense of truth ignored, suppressed, or denied? 



260 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

The promise of the Holy Spirit is not only to those who 
are intellectually right; it is also to those who are wrong in 
their thinking but right in their faith. Some of the best gifts 
of the Spirit have come through human errors that led to 
larger truths. God, who makes even the wrath of man to 
praise Him, makes also the errors of good men sometimes to be 
productive of good. It is of the Lord's mercies that many of 
our mistakes of judgment do less harm than logically they 
ought to do. If the Holy Spirit were granted only to those 
who understand all truth, the Spirit still would be reserved 
for some long distant future. But the Spirit is given to men 
now much in error, leading them progressively into a slightly 
larger measure of truth, as they are able to bear it. 

When men affirm, as they sometimes do affirm, that a 
creed must never be uttered with mental reservation, the 
answer is that no human creed can ever be uttered in any 
other way. There must always be a reservation for the truth 
which the creed could not contain and which it may have been 
framed expressly to deny. 

Most creeds have risen out of religious controversy, in 
which one side or the other has triumphed by a somewhat 
narrow margin. The Nicene Creed is supposed to have grown 
out of the controversy, which banished Arras. The Council of 
Nicea drove him forth, but it was not long before a reaction 
set in and Arius was invited to return. Great preparation 
was made to receive him back at court. Constantinople was 
assembled in all pomp and circumstance with the emperor and 
bishops and the officials of church and state when Arius sud- 
denly died. In his death some people saw the treacherous act 
of his enemies, and others a mark of Divine approval, sealing 
with the high honors of heaven the recognition which the 
church on earth at last had given to the truth. Now the spirit 
which drove Arius forth into exile managed to get itself 
written into a creed ; and if Arius had lived to establish him- 
self in power in Constantinople, the theories which he held 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 261 

would very likely have gotten themselves into another creed, 
issued by a council of quite as high authority and composed in 
good part of the same people. Who knows whether the un- 
written creed of Arius would have been more hetereodox in 
its way than the creed of his enemies was in their way ? Who 
knows at what precise moment in the process of shifting major- 
ities the vote must be taken that is to embody the bitterness 
and dogmatism of an unholy fight into an authoritative creed 
which all Christians must thereafter profess on pain of eternal 
damnation ? 

The Apostles' Creed was not written by the apostles, nor 
the Nicene Creed by the Council of Nicea, nor the Athanasian 
Creed by Athenasius, and no one of them is either perfect or 
final. 

Nearly all creeds are compromises. Even when they rep- 
resent the triumph of a majority over a minority there had to 
be no little trimming and fitting to make the creed acceptable 
to the majority. Among the company of those who came at 
length to a sufficient unanimity to agree upon a creed there 
existed a considerable variety of opinion. It is reasonable to 
assume that some approach to unity was reached in the process 
of discussion, but it is also true that a considerable part of that 
unity was due to the selection of a sufficiently elastic and 
ambiguous phraseology to enable all the various parties that 
came to an ultimate agreement to read their own meanings into 
the words of the creed. It is a fair question ,and one not to be 
answered by an appeal to the dictionary, whether a creed 
which came into being by the very reason of its being elastic 
must now be interpreted with no elasticity. Let us assume, 
for example, that some council of the early Church composed 
of five hundred members had in it two hundred who held a 
doctrine which we may call A, one hundred and twenty-five 
another doctrine which we may call B, and one hundred and 
seventy-five a doctrine which we may call C. B and C were 
able at length to agree upon a form of words which we will 



262 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

call D, as sufficiently inclusive to express what each of those 
two factions counted most vital in B and C. By this process 
a majority of the council was obtained and the creed A was 
voted down by the advocates of the creed D. Now, it is not 
only conceivable that A and B might have found like common 
ground and also a working majority in another creed E ; or 
A and C might have attained a different result in another 
creed F. But what is more important for us is that there 
are living men whose interpretation of the truths of Christian 
experience would lead them independently to express their 
faith in terms of G, H and I, but who have inherited a ritual, 
or creedal declaration in terms of D. Are they to be denied 
such liberty as B and C secured in the formulation of D? 
Manifestly not. A creed which owes its adoption to its vague- 
ness and ambiguity at the time when it was formulated is not 
to be forced upon men of another generation as though it were 
capable of one and only one interpretation. 

No man can formulate a creed which completely records 
his own inmost convictions, much less can any man formulate 
the truth of his own convictions in terms which completely 
satisfy the mental and spiritual requirements of any other 
man. President Henry Churchill King has well said : 

Complete uniformity of belief and statement is impossible, in the 
first place, because it is difficult indeed for any of us to tell our real 
inner creed. That creed is the creed that finds expression in life. 
It is the statement of those assumptions that are implied in deeds 
and spirit. The will, thus, has its creed as well as the intellect, and 
the truths of religion must be wrought out rather than merely 
thought out. And the intellect can formulate only very imperfectly 
the truth that the will has wrought out. How comparatively empty 
and flat the greatest truths sound from one who does not seem to 
have lived them into existence. On the other hand, how significant 
the simplest truths become when they are backed by a great life. 
Now the truth which so lives for a man is his real creed, and that 
real creed he can better state at the end of his complete experience 
than at the beginning. It is still more impossible for another's 
formulation completely to shadow forth this whole life-experience. 
This is not at all to join the company of those, who wish to "rule the 
doctrinal element out of their religion." It is quite a different thing 
from that, to insist that only the whole mind can reach the essential 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 263 

meaning of things ; that all Christian doctrine, looks directly to life, 
means something for life and grows directly out of life; that no 
series of propositions can possibly set forth the whole meaning of 
the Christian life; and that the acceptance, of any set of propositions 
is not the acceptance of Christianity. Thinking there must be, ear- 
nest and hard, and every possible attempt to express the fullest 
results of this thinking in ordered statement of doctrine — to reach 
a comprehensive intellectual unity that shall bring our religious 
beliefs into relation to all the rest of our thinking. All this is 
highly important and helpful. But even so, doctrine is means, not 
end; an expression of life rather than life itself. The intellect 
serves life but may not dominate it. 

Complete uniformity of belief and statement therefore is im- 
possible, first of all, because we are none of us really able to make 
an accurate statement even of our own creed. It is impossible also 
because if two persons should agree in adopting the same formula 
of words, even these same words must be interpreted out of different 
inheritances, training, environment and experiences, and the em- 
phasis and meaning will change accordingly; and they will change 
even in the same individual from time to time. Unalterable doctrine 
is thus impossible. Any true acceptance of a creed involves every 
time a kind of creative activity on the part of the individual affirm- 
ing the, confession. This means that the different temperament, the 
different point of view and the different emphasis cannot help affect- 
ing every man's creed. It is true of a man's creed as of his environ- 
ment that the only effective portions are those to which he attends ; 
and the points of attention vary from time to time. 

But it is not only true that complete uniformity of belief and 
statement is impossible, it is equally true that were it attainable, it 
would be undesirable. We are dealing with those truths that have 
to do with the infinite God himself, and with human relations to that 
infinite God. We can only approximate to the infinite truth so 
sought by seeking from every soul the most honest expression of his 
experience and so sharing our experiences with each other. The 
situation is like that illustrated by Leibnitz's figure of the mirrors 
surrounding the market-place. Each mirror gives its reflection 
from one point of view, and it is only by combining all these reflec- 
tions that the complete view of all the aspects of the market-place 
could result. We need indispensably the supplementing help that 
comes from sharing in the best visions of other souls. — "The Confes- 
sion of Christ," in Constructive Quarterly, ii, 258-260. 

Creeds require to be interpreted in the light of their his- 
tory. The technical expressions which they contain cannot be 
accurately interpreted apart from the meaning which they 
acquired in the discussions in which they originated. Often a 
study of the history out of which a creed emerged gives to the 
student a higher appreciation of the document in its relation tb 



264 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

history, while emphasizing anew the caution with which they 
are to be accepted as an expression of the faith of a modern 
Christian. Prof. William A. Curtis, of the University of Aber- 
deen, in an appreciative article concerning creeds, spoke from 
the standpoint of a Scotch Presbyterian in favor of a reason- 
able measure of liberty in their interpretation. 

It follows that as documents of history they must be historically 
studied and understood. They are full of technical terms, of clauses 
which to the scholar call up the memory of definite controversies, 
of phrases which betray their locality and school of opinion. Like 
the Apostles' Creed itself, they are monuments of well-weighed 
compromise and deliberate compilation. Like the Bible itself, they 
reflect the light of divine truth streaming from many minds. To 
accept them with unquestioning literalness is to accept them unin- 
telligently and to do them dishonour. Place yourself at the stand- 
point of their framers and their age, allow for the fashion of their 
thought as you would allow for the idiom and vocabulary of their 
language, bear in mind the things they did not know, the history 
they had not read, the questions they had not raised and faced, the 
experience they had not enjoyed, the scholarship beyond their reach, 
and you will not do them the, injustice of making them oracles for 
all time, or representing that their sceptre and their nod can arrest 
the tide of divine revelation and of human science. To know their 
origin and their historical setting is certainly to be in a position 
to judge them critically, and to have their oracular mysteriousness 
dispelled, but it is also to have one's imagination stirred and one's 
sympathy aroused. I can scarcely think of one of them which close 
historical acquaintance has not thus transformed for me. — The 
Hibbert Journal, xii, p. 320. 

It is always to be remembered in the interpretation of 
creeds that he who (Subscribes to a creed owes something to the 
future as well as to the past. Is the man of to-day to be 
stopped from thinking in terms of his own day because his 
faith has been expressed for him in a creed either of the 
fourth or of the sixteenth century? How came that creed of 
the fourth century to be written, seeing there were already in 
existence creeds from an earlier century ? Manifestly because 
the men of the fourth century had courage to confess their 
faith in terms of the thought of the fourth century. How 
came it that with creeds of the fourth and succeeding centuries 
in their possession, the men of the sixteenth century had 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 265 

courage to make new creeds ? How shall a man be loyal to 
those very creeds if he does not have at least as much courage 
as the makers of them? 

Clearly it is a great advantage to a Church to have a common 
body of doctrine, greater even than a common mode of worship or 
organization, and it is a sacred duty to profess as much of the truth 
as common conviction will allow. Church and congregation, more- 
over, are entitled to receive some guarantee that the pastor of souls 
will teach the truth accredited, adequately and loyally. Confessions 
accepted or subscribed are meant to serve both ends. Broadly 
speaking, they have done so reasonably well, and they deserve our 
deepest gratitude. But to use or enforce, them legally in a hard and 
fast way is unchristian and unwise. The Church does not exist for 
the Confession, however venerable, but the, Confession for the 
Church. The minister of Jesus Christ is not the special pleader of 
a particular theology, retained for a fee. The right to formulate 
the doctrinal content of faith is the prerogative and monopoly of no 
single age or generation, however confident of itself, and however 
competent. God is not the God of the dead, however great, but of 
the, living; and His Truth, though it is eternal, is not stationary. If 
Faith has hands with which to cling, it has also feet with which to 
move forward. It would be well if we, who honor our ancient 
formularies, and resent the slightest invasion of their sacrosanctity, 
showed a little more confidence in their ability to bear handling and 
comparison. If better articles of faith were offered to us than we 
possess traditionally, would it not be our religious duty to accept 
them? Have, we learned nothing and unlearned nothing worth re- 
cording since the Assemblies of Dordrecht and Westminster? It is 
natural for men who love the Ark of the Covenant to stretch out 
impulsive hands to steady it as the wheels of the wagon lurch in 
the ruts of the rough highway of experience, but there is a fear on 
its behalf that, is ungodly as well as unmanly. The same solemn 
and indeed overwhelming responsibility which rested on our fathers 
in the Reformation to purify their testimony to God's Truth rests 
also on their sons in every succeeding age. When men to-day rail 
at our standards, not always by any means without cause or in dis- 
loyalty, they may fairly be asked to show us a better for all pur- 
poses and for all orders of mind, and we may fairly be asked to 
preserve an open mind for its reception when it is produced. For 
my part, as an Assembly juryman in any case of doctrinal disci- 
pline, I would refuse to take a merely legal view of any office- 
bearer's departure from our standards. I would feel bound to ac- 
knowledge that every minister has a constituent share of his own 
in the admitted right of that Court of which he is a member to move 
in doctrine at the bidding of science or of conscience or of the 
Divine Spirit. I think it is idle and sophistical to say that the Gen- 
eral Assembly must enact permission before the individual may 
preach new ideas, for the Assembly is but a court of individuals, and 
its movement and initiative are necessarily slower and later than 



266 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

theirs. The universal Fatherhood of God and the sacred duty of 
missions to the heathen are credenda which many of our Churches 
have never yet authorized by statute or confession, yet, God be 
thanked, we have long since been guided and constrained by a 
higher voice than ecclesiastical enactment to proclaim them. It 
is thus, I submit, impossible and unchristian to interpret our 
standards in a narrow legal fashion. We would not do it with 
Scripture; we dare not do it with them. "With the memory of what 
legalism did in the, Gospel narrative, in the unreformed Church, and 
in the Protestant Churches during the seventeenth century, we have 
little excuse for relapsing into it again. 

But, you say, may a minister of religion preach as he pleases 
with impunity? I answer only that disloyalty is not to be judged 
by narrow rules. We must be consistent and we must be fair. 
There is such a thing as disloyalty to the present and to the future 
to be, kept in view. The letter of ancient standards even a lawyer 
will, if he can, interpret historically, in the light of the conditions of 
their age and the intentions of their framers. Even a lawyer, too, 
will take into account the effect of divergent use and wont in sub- 
sequent generations as modifying their force when employed as 
documents forming the basis of a contract of professional service. 
To subscribe an ancient Confession, itself originally framed by 
majority findings and through innumerable compromises in debate, 
itself also interpreted in our own time, by different schools of opinion 
and types of scholarship, is obviously anything but a simple act. It 
implies, of course, a solemn compact and pledge of loyalty to the 
past, and of loyalty to the living Church, but it involves no less an 
obligation to the Church's living Head and His indwelling Spirit. 
It seems to me— and I write under a profound sense of the gravity 
of the practical issue — that no branch of the Christian Church has 
any right to foreclose, irrevocably or irreformably, once for all, the 
form of its doctrinal testimony. Every Church, if it has eyes for 
the lessons of history since the dawn of the Reformation, ought to 
hold its property and administer its discipline on the explicit under- 
standing that its hand is free from age to age to write afresh the 
sentences which utter its living belief in the living God. The Church 
needs freemen, not slaves, for its ministry. Even the world, though 
it delights in opinions that are dogmatic, and dearly loves "plain 
answers" to ugly questions, is not enamoured of men who proclaim 
the glorious liberty of the Gospel while themselves in confessional 
shackles. Of course, there is risk as well as dignityi in freedom. 
Every employer and every offerer of free labour knows that. But 
is it for that reason better to go back to slavery? Select your men, 
train your men, trust your men, as your Master did. Run openly 
the risk of finding one man in twelve a traitor, as He did, and each 
of twelve slow of heart and mind. For after all no articles of in- 
denture, however strict, can possibly guarantee thej future fidelity 
and competence of the employed. He is a blind reader of Church 
history who does not know that Articles of Faith are powerless to 
preserve intellectual uniformity. The Presbyterian Churches in the 
eighteenth century were anything but faithful to their standards; 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 267 

yet they did not make a single formal change in them, deeming it 
apparently not worth their while. There is a better way, a surer 
guarantee. In his "Arians of the Fourth Century," John Henry 
Newman, who will not be credited with indifference to any lawful 
means of securing doctrinal conformity and identity, makes a mem- 
orable admission concerning what he calls "that novel though nec- 
essary measure of imposing an authoritative creed on those whom 
the Church invested with the office of teaching." He says: "If I 
avow my belief that freedom from symbols and articles is abstract- 
edly the highest state of Christian communion, and the peculiar 
privilege of the primitive Church, it is not from any tenderness 
towards that proud impatience of control in which many exult as 
in a virtue, but first, because technicality and formalism are, in 
their degree, inevitable results of public confessions of faith; and 
next, because, where confessions do not exist, the mysteries of 
Divine truth, instead of being exposed to the gaze of the profane and 
uninstructed, are kept hidden in the bosom of the Church far 1 more 
faithfully than is otherwise possible, and reserved, by a private 
teaching through the channel of her ministers, as rewards in due 
measure and season for those who are prepared to profit by them — 
for those, that is, who are diligently passing through the successive 
stages of faith and obedience. — Prof. W. A. Curtis, of Aberdeen, in 
Hibbert Journal, xii, 327-330. 

The principle that a teacher or a preacher is a discoverer 
of truth and must be free to discover it has been ably set 
forth by Dean John H. Wigmore of the Northwestern Univer- 
sity School of Law in an article in The Nation on "Academic 
Freedom ' ' in which he draws an important analogy from the 
principle of judicial immunity. That principle rooted in three 
centuries of English and American decisions is that a superior 
or supreme judge is not liable to civil action on any ground 
whatever for a wrong done by him while acting as a judge on 
matters within his own jurisdiction. The protection granted 
him while in the exercise of his judicial function is so full as 
to seem extreme. As applied in the courts it freely assumes 
that the judge is human and fallible, liable to prejudice and 
every other human failing, but it holds that it is impossible 
adequately to protect the righteous judge without granting 
immunity also to the ignorant, the biased, the prejudiced 
judge. Mr. Justice Field of the United States Supreme Court 
enunciated this principle in the case of Bradley vs. Fisher 
(13 Wallace, 336; 1871). 



268 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

If civil actions could be, maintained in such cases against the 
judge, because the losing party should see fit to allege in his com- 
plaint that the acts of the judge were done with partiality, or 
maliciously, or corruptly, the protection essential to judicial in- 
dependence would be entirely swept away. Few persons, sufficiently 
irritated to institute an action against a judge for his judicial acts, 
would hesitate to ascribe any character to the acts which would be 
essential to the maintenance of an action. If upon such allegations 
a judge could be compelled to answer in a civil action for his 
judicial acts, ... he would be subjected for his protection to the 
necessity of . . . showing the judge before whom he might be sum- 
moned by the, losing party . . . that he had decided as he. did with 
judicial integrity. And the second judge would be subjected to a 
similar burden in his turn. 

In other words, says Dean Wigmore, were the, rule otherwise, 
for the sake of reaching the one judge in a hundred who might act 
corruptly or maliciously, then the ninety-and-nine honest and com- 
petent judges would be likely to be harassed continually by com- 
plainants alleging this malice or corruptness as a nominal pretext 
for their claim. And the profound ill-consequence is obvious. The 
honest judge's peace of mind would be gone. 

The analogy is plain. The object of academic immunity is the 
protection of the competent thinker in that unhampered research 
and discussion which alone leads to the discovery of scien- 
tific truth. But the protection cannot be limited to the 
competent thinker. It must extend to all academic scholars, 
including the incompetent, the extremists, the radicals, the 
temperamentally biased, and the tactless. For otherwise it is 
easy enough to find the charge brought that the particular supposed 
offender is incompetent, or tactless, or what-ever else it is that falls 
outside the line of protection. His case is precisely like that of the 
judge in this respect. The offended party — be he trustee, regent, 
editor, ecclesiastic, parent, or man in the street — is always likely 
to allege that the doctrine advanced by the academic incumbent, or 
the manner of advancing it, is such as reveals plainly the academic 
man's incompetence to be a professor of true science or a safe 
guide of youth. And, in fact, almost all of the instances publicly 
discussed do exhibit precisely that feature. The parallel is almost 
amusingly exact. Citations are needless ; read any of the documents 
recently published in any of the instances. 

If we do not appreciate this aspect of the problem, we are in 
danger of ignoring entirely the real basis for defending academic 
freedom. That basis is that it is impossible to protect the competent 
scholar, who by general concession merits protection both in the 
substance and in the form of his utterances, without also protecting 
the incompetent one, who in himself alone might be said not to 
merit protection; because, if a line of definition be attempted, tlhe 
offended party will always believe and allege that the supposed 
offender falls outside that line, and thus the whole class of compe- 
tent men will always be hampered in their research and their ut- 
terances by the likelihood of being required to defend themselves 
against this allegation. 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 269 

The question of academic freedom and of freedom in the 
puipit is far more complex than those suppose who assume that 
a minister or a professor is a hired man employed to teach a 
fixed system of fully discovered truth. There is no such sys- 
tem either in the Bible or out of it. Much less does any creed 
contain such a system. The final interviews of Jesus with his 
disciples thrill with the spirit of truth yet to be revealed. 
He taught them so much of the truth as they were able to 
bear and promised them the guidance of the Spirit to lead 
them into all truth. That promise was not limited to that or 
any succeeding age. If the Spirit ever undertook a work of 
interpretation and of continuation in the application of the 
principles of Jesus to the later life of the church that guid- 
ance must continue as long as the need continues. Not yet 
certainly has the need of guidance ceased. The truth which 
Jesus taught has often been spoken of as a deposit to be sacred- 
ly guarded ; and the figure has a certain force and authority ; 
but it is the deposit of a seed, a living growing entity. The 
preacher is more than the conservator of a system of truth em- 
bodied in a confession of faith. He is a revealer of truth. It 
is his duty having ears to hear what now the Spirit saith unto 
the churches. 

A layman, accustomed to the "hiring and firing" of his 
employes! on the sole basis of his own likes or dislikes, or of 
their supposed value in promoting the interests of his business, 
is sometimes prone to apply the standards of the office and the 
shop to the minister and to say, ' ' Our church has a creed which 
satisfies us ; let the minister preach it or let him go. We are 
not interested in any new revelations he may suppose himself 
to possess. We do not care to discuss with him whether our 
creed is true or not. There it is ; let him take it or leave it. ' ' 

Laymen have talked after this fashion, and it was lan- 
guage most unbecoming in any man professing to be a servant 
of Christ, and is based on an idea thoroughly dishonoring to 
the ministry. The minister of the gospel is no man's servant; 



270 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

he is not anybody's hired man. It is nobody's privilege to 
hire him and fire him for doing or not* doing what some ar- 
rogant contributor to the church thinks he ought or ought not 
to do. The minister is a prophet of God, whose duty it is to 
discover in all the ways he may, what the Lord would reveal 
to the people of his church. A part of that truth previously 
discovered is embodied in very faulty forms of expression in 
the church creed. It is not a finality. No one has a right to 
assume that it is a finality. The church ought to expect to 
outgrow it, and no one is presumably so competent to discover 
when it may be outgrown as the man who has been called of 
God and the church to be a proclaimer of the Gospel of Christ 
in terms of his own generation. 

A minister has no right to abuse his liberty, nor treat the 
creed of his church with disrespect even if the time has come 
when it ought to be modified or superseded. He may not 
properly regard it with levity or scorn. It is the high water 
mark of religious and theological opinion at one period in the 
life of the institution whose continuity and welfare he is glad 
to promote. 

A council was called in Cambridge, Mass., to install as 
its minister a bright but erratic young theological graduate. 
On his examination it proved that he had paid no attention to 
the confession of faith of the church to whose pastorate he was 
called, considered it wholly unnecessary that he should have 
read it, and not only did not believe it but held it in no par- 
ticular reverence. The Council very properly refused to in- 
stall him. He has had a career in literature more successful 
than he probably would have had in that pastorate. 

A professor in one of our Congregational theological sem- 
inaries published a book which was declared to be at variance 
with the creed of the institution. He answered that it was not 
contradictory to the said creed, and that a subsequent volume, 
a sequel to the first, would show his essential conformity to the 
seminary creed. On this representation the directors of the 



THE ETHICS OF CREED SUBSCRIPTION 271 

seminary granted him a year's leave of absence, with salary. 
The succeeding volume did not show the anticipated harmony 
of view between the professor and the creed, and he was dis- 
missed from the seminary faculty. 

It is not by any means certain that this is what ought to 
have been done. This professor had an indefeasible right to 
insist that his view of truth and the view of the good men who 
made the creed should both be tested by the Word of God. He 
had a right to insist that no creed should be permitted perma- 
nently to stand the authoritative declaration of truth as held 
by a Congregational institution. He had a right to demand 
that the living man who wrote the book and the dead men who 
made the creed should be weighed in an even balance. 

The Spirit of God is not monopolized by the minister; 
that Spirit is poured out upon the whole body of the church 
and the church has a right to its judgment of truth as really 
as the minister, but that judgment must be according to spirit- 
ual standards and not according to the standards of commerce. 
Many a minister has been expelled from his pulpit at the be- 
hest of some arrogant layman, who pretended to no higher 
system of judgment than that which he would have applied to 
his own stenographer. "Now the natural man receiveth not 
the things of the spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto 
him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually 
judged. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, and he 
himself is judged of no man." (1 Cor. 2 : 14, 15) 

No layman is competent to sit in judgment of his minister 
in spiritual things so long as he himself judges on the basis 
of things commercial. The minister, if he truly judges with 
his spiritual judgment, stands before his God and ishould stand 
before his congregation immeasurably lifted above the judg- 
ment of all such worldly standards. Judging spiritually, he 
judgeth all things and is judged by no man. 

It is true that in the Congregational theory the minister 
is a member of the church and subject to it in all matters re- 



272 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

lating to his own Christian life and practice, but it is not true 
that the congregation, much less any one member of it, is sole 
judge of what the minister may or should teach, or of his con- 
formity or non-conformity to the standards of orthodoxy. 
Such a doctrine would have been instantly repudiated by all 
the early Puritan ministers and should not for a moment be 
tolerated in modern Congregationalism. 

Across the face of every Congregational creed is writ 
large this fundamental principle of Congregational assent, 
namely, that every creed is an imperfect expression of the 
truth it endeavors to embody, and that no creed can ever stand 
upon the same plane of authority with the Holy Scriptures in- 
terpreted by the spirit that gave them. It is not necessary 
that a creed should state in explicit terms its own limitations 
nor contain an avowed disclaimer on behalf of those who assent 
to it. These limitations are inherent in the nature of the docu- 
ment and of the act of subscription. He who accepts a creed 
in Congregationalism accepts not its ipsisima verba but the 
substance of faith, which from age to age has been in all creeds. 



III. CREEDS AND THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 

The essential sin of the unchanging creed is that it violates 
the Second Commandment. We do greatly err, not knowing 
the Scriptures, if we suppose that the plastic arts are -more 
prone than any other arts to the making of false objects of 
worship. Sculpture and painting are not the only means by 
which men create images of God and compel men to worship 
them. 

May not the paintings of our Lord, imperfect as they are, 
yet the work of men who have given their lives to attempts to 
make real their highest conception of the look of the Saviour 
of men, be an aid to our devotion ? Before such a picture, or 
a statue of Christ, carved by an earnest soul who wished to 
make his best thought of God incarnate in stone or bronze 
where it might bless him and others, why might we not bow 
and pray and be the better for it? Very likely we might. 

But is not this the essential evil of idolatry, that though 
in the first generation it may really aid devotion, it fastens on 
succeeding generations an object of worship which they have 
out grown, yet which they may not discard? Those still live 
who love it, and they themselves have been taught to love it ; 
that which was the high- water mark of one generation's devo- 
tion to God will become to the next, ere yet that first genera- 
tion has passed from the earth, an insuperable barrier to the 
same devotion. God meant that men should grow. A graven 
image limits growth : and when men cease to grow better they 
grow worse. 

Well may we rejoice that God determined to stamp out 
idol- worship though to do it obliterated nations. Well may we 

273 



274 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

rejoice that the Lord our God is jealous and, because of the 
inevitable tendency of idolatry to visit its iniquities upon the 
children to the third and fourth generation, has sent the icono- 
clast and conqueror with hammer and torch and sword, where 
men have made a lie of the image of God. 

Every thought we have of God is but an approach to the 
truth. We cannot find out the Almighty to perfection. Every 
revelation of God to us is of necessity minified and even dis- 
colored by our ignorance and previous training. God would 
teach us some truths concerning Himself through the words 
of inspired men, mostly on current or prospective events ; these 
do not reveal God directly, but leave us to infer some things 
about Him. He would reveal some other truths through an 
elaborate ritual and system of sacrifice, once for its temporary 
uses approved by Him, but now in view of the growth of 
knowledge concerning Him, laid aside as something outgrown, 
though still worthy of preservation for historic purposes, and 
to give added meaning and perspective to more perfect reve- 
lations. He would show us more of Himself through Jesus 
Christ, in whom we behold the Divine Nature amid the limita- 
tions of a human body and the progress of a human develop- 
ment and experience. He would have us learn other truths 
concerning Himself through our own nature and that of the 
world which He has made. He would have us learn other 
truths concerning Himself through a divine institution, the 
Church, in, which He is present through the Holy Spirit, and 
whose history, together with the character of the men and 
women who have adorned it, shows wonderfully His power and 
goodness. Yet all these, no one of them perfectly understood, 
cannot show us all that God is. By a multitude of figures and 
a variety of names He has endeavored to make us understand 
this or that truth concerning Him — He is a Shepherd, a King, 
a Husbandman, a Father, a Bridegroom, the Captain of a 
host ; He appears in a cloud, a flame, an angelic form ; all these 
manifestations reveal some truth, but the sum of them does not 



CREEDS AND THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 275 

reveal the sum of truth about God. They are the pieces of 
glass in the kaleidoscope of the individual mind; each is the 
fragment of the real truth, and the whole are capable of many 
combinations. 

Well may we admire the labor and marvel at the skill 
and spiritual insight of the Church fathers of the early cen- 
turies. The creeds and systems into which they wrought their 
interpretations of Scripture and their thoughts of God are, 
many of them, wonderful productions. But their theories of 
God's sovereignty, their exact chart of His attributes, their 
reduction of divinity to a formula, their graven image of His 
character, ought not to be the limit of our search for God. 
Their grouping of the manifold revelations of God in an 
attempt to make clear his threefold nature may be helpful to 
us up to a certain point, but their hard and mechanical doc- 
trine of the Trinity, though we may accept it as the best possi- 
ble at present for ourselves, should never be fastened upon 
others as the ne plus ultra of Christian insight and discovery, 
nor even accepted by ourselves as final truth. The analogies 
by which our fathers of later generations attempted to set 
forth the great doctrines of Christianity, close as was their 
walk with God, clear as was their view of many of the most 
essential truths concerning God, should interpose no limit to 
our thought, God as the universal Sovereign, means more or 
less to men, according to their experience with human mon- 
archs. God as the Divine Shepherd means more or less to 
men, according as they know or do not know the sheep as a 
domestic animal ; and among those who do so know it the idea 
varies in meaning, according as the sheep are raised in vast 
herds upon a ranch, or kept in small folds, carefully watched 
by day and night, and known individually by name; and the 
figure, however much it may mean, to us, is still a figure, and 
not absolute truth. God as our Father, though this figure is 
that taught us by our Saviour Himself, means more or less to 
us in proportion to our experience and ideal of fatherhood, and 



276 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

the limitation which we may place upon the application of the 
pronoun ' ' our. ' ' In every age, and, we may believe, in eveiy 
nation, God has made Himself known to men through the best 
possible media; and all of these revelations are to be studied 
earnestly, and their light received with thankfulness ; but that 
former generations should weld their ideas, even their best 
ones, as fetters upon us, or we ours upon others, and thus keep 
men from coming to their highest possible knowledge of God — 
what is this but the making of a graven image, and not only 
bowing to it, but teaching others, who else might learn better, 
to do so? And if this were, as it certainly is not, one of the 
least of the commandments, should not those who break it and 
teach men so, be least in the kingdom of Heaven ? This is no 
disowning of our ancestors 1 . Thank God for them, for their 
piety, their unflinching integrity, their godlikeness according 
to their knowledge of God! They were so great and so good 
because they refused to be fettered by the past and to worship 
any image but that which the living God revealed to their own- 
souls through patient study of His Word and earnest strivings 
after righteousness; but looking with reverence upon the sys- 
tems which they reared, it is one thing to regard them as 
sacred mementos of times when the waters divided before the 
ark they bore, and quite a different thing to regard them as 
pedestals upon some one of which we must become statues, and 
forever fasten ourselves in unthinking, unp regressive silence, 
to their sublime, but defective theories. 

Our little systems have their day, 
They have their day and cease to be : 
They are but lesser lights of Thee, 

And Thou, God, art more than they ! 
The iconoclast had his place, but this chapter is not meant 
to be iconoclastic nor even to a mild degree polemic ; it simply 
endeavors to set forth the fact that God meant that men should 
know Him better and better, and has forbidden any man to 
darken men's search for the increasing light with systems that 






CREEDS AND THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 277 

once shed light, but now, in the growing dawn of our knowl- 
edge of Him, like a candle-flame in the brightness of an electric 
arclight have come to cast a shadow. 

Every generation must define God in the light of God's 
progressive revelation. The older theologians defined God in 
terms of monarchial government, for they knew no other. Has 
God revealed no new conception of Himself to humanity 
through the experience of democratic government? To deny 
that He had done so would be a virtual atheism. It has been 
true in Theology, as in other disciplines, that necessity is the 
mother of invention. The experiences of self-government, with 
all their perils and blunders, have served to show increasingly 
to men and nations that we have a Republic of God as truly 
as a Kingdom of God, and that God is working out his own 
self-expression through human experiences, social and national 
as Avell as personal. The idea of a static God is outgrown ; we 
need an adequate God, a God whose life is inwrought with the 
stuff of the world. 

"When God spake to Moses, saying, ' ' I am Jehovah : and I 
appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob as El- 
Shaddai, but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto 
them," (Ex. 6: 2, 3), He not only authorized but compelled 
a new definition of God. 

The effect of the disruption of the Kingdoms of Israel and 
Judah on the idea of God must have been tremendous. It 
brought about a condition in which the nobler prophets were 
able to conceive of Jehovah as the God not only of two nations 
but of all nations. Thus Amos declared that the Israelites 
were no more precious to Jehovah than the Ethiopians; and 
that even the exodus, in which Jehovah had brought up his 
people out of Egypt, was no proof that Israel was the only 
nation He loved, for the Philistines had come up from Caphtor 
and the Syrians from Kir, and the same God, Jehovah, had 
guided the destinies of these heathen nations (Amos 9: 7, 8). 
What a remarkable affirmation this is, and how utterly it des- 



278 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

troys the idea that in the mind of the prophet Jehovah never 
became anything else than a tribal God! 

Just as the exodus and the division of the kingdoms of 
Israel and Judah resulted in new and larger ideas of God, so 
must our experiences, personal, national and international 
enlarge our thought of his majesty and greatness. We must 
believe in a God who is great enough to strain our old defini- 
tions to the breaking point, a God who is the God of the 
English and of the Germans, of the French and the Austrians, 
of the Jews and the Gentiles, the Protestants and the Roman 
Catholics, a God who is as much greater than all our defini- 
tions as the river is greater than the cup from which we drink 
of it, as the ocean is greater than the raindrop which ascended 
from the ocean and returns to the ocean but refreshes us and 
gladdens the little spot of earth where we abide. The cupful 
is of the river and like the river but it is not the whole river ; 
the raindrop is born of the ocean and has its home in the 
ocean, but the qualities of the ocean are not all to be 
inferred from the qualities of the raindrop. 

The changing needs of successive generations have com- 
pelled repeated changes in their definition of God. The second 
commandment, forbidding us to make a graven image and call 
it God, applies in its spiritual principle as truly to the art of 
the creed-maker as that of the manufacturer of graven images. 
Every generation must have a conception of God adequate to 
its needs. This necessity has caused a majority of the defini- 
tions of God ''• fall out of their former place in the require- 
ments of human life. A local god, i.e., a tribal god, a god of 
the land, a god of the sea, a god for some particular need, may 
satisfy some temporary or particular requirement of human 
life. But only a religion which proceeds from God himself 
can afford us a conception of God that is simple enough for 
primitive ages and great enough for the age in which we live. 

The world needs an adequate God, namely, a God whose 
life is inwrought with that of the world He has made and who 



CREEDS AND THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 279 

is working His very own life out into adequate expression 
through human experience. 

To some people this is a new conception of God, but really 
it is not so new as it seems. Something of this sort was in the 
mind of the apostle John when he said, il Behold the tabernacle 
of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they 
shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and 
be their God" (Rev. 21:3). 

We have need of a transcendent God, a God who is above 
all His works, a First Cause whose activity was manifested in 
the beginning. We must never give up that view of God, but 
it is unfortunate that many people in holding that view have 
essentially ruled God out of present-day life. They think of 
Him as a Great First Cause who operates now only through 
second causes ; a God who, having set in operation these second 
causes now operative in the world and in human life, has 
virtually retired from active business; a God whose existence 
is to be proved by reference to origins rather than from cur- 
rent activities ; a God whom we could not infer from anything 
we now see, but in whom we are to believe by reason of what 
people saw and heard a long time ago. 

To these manifest limitations upon our idea of God are 
added other hampering limitations invented on supposed be- 
half of God 's own interests. These good people hold to a God 
who was interested in only one nation, the Jews, and only one 
department of human life, the sacred as opposed to the secular, 
and only one place in His universe, heaven as opposed to earth 
and hell. We are sure that God is subject to no such limita- 
tions. If God has to have a hell He is interested in what is 
going on there, and is doing the very best He can for it under 
the circumstances. God has made the world, He has not for- 
saken it, and it is just as much a part of his domain as heaven 
is. Our God is concerned with origins, but just as much con- 
cerned with processes. 



280 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

The noble utterance of the prophet takes in the whole 
sweep of human history and considers the afflictions of the 
people of God, when in a truly inspired declaration he says, 
"In all their afflictions God was afflicted." God suffers with 
the sufferings of humanity. 

Victor Hugo once said, "He who has seen the sorrows of 
men has seen nothing ; he must see the sorrows of women. He 
who sees the sorrows of women has seen nothing; he must see 
the sorrows of children. ' ' Might Ave not add to tihs, ' ' He who 
has seen the sorrows of women, men and children has seen 
nothing; he must see the sorrows of Christ. And yet again, 
he who has iseen the sorrows of Christ has had only a sugges- 
tion of the infinite sorrows of God. ' ' 

There is a conception of God which lifts Him above all 
possibility of personal sorrow. Knowing the end from the 
beginning, He serenely contemplates all that is, assured that 
in the end it will be well. To Him there is no distinction 
between past, present and future ; all that is past and all that 
is to come constitutes to Him an eternal now. But this is not 
the idea of God which best harmonizes with our present-day 
thinking, nor is it that which best represents the highest con- 
ception revealed in Holy Writ. God has a personal stake in 
the personal affairs of the universe. God has intimate per- 
sonal concern with all that happens in the world. The struct- 
ure of this planet and of other planets is one in substance, 
origin and destiny with the structure of the central sun. Not 
only has it no life apart from the sun, but the solar system is 
incomplete without it both in importance and in potentiality. 
So the life of God is in the life of all that He has made and 
is incomplete without it. The life of God is affected by the 
life of all the world. 

God is the ultimate reality. Our thought of God is our 
uppermost and outermost mental possibility. Our experience 
of God is the largest and deepest of all human experiences. In 



CREEDS AND THE SECOND COMMANDMENT 281 

our thought of God and in our experience of God, God himself 
participates. 

There was a time when men thought of God as a monarch 
ruling a rebellious world. He was not only a king, but the 
king of an empire in revolt. It is no caricature of some con- 
ceptions of the relation of God to the world to say that God 
was almost like the warden of a penitentiary, ruling rigorously 
over an unwilling body of criminals, each one of whom de- 
served to hang and toward whom even the utmost severity 
short of eternal damnation was to be considered large and un- 
merited mercy. 

We have come to see clearly that this is not an adequate 
conception of God. God is a Father and the Father of all His 
children, good and bad. Whatever He does by way of disci- 
pline He does as a father might do. Not only so, as the 
father's life is the life of the child, so God's life is inwrought 
into the life of the world. The sorrows of human life are His 
sorrows. God is working out His own diversified experience 
in the experiences of humanity. What we work out with fear 
and trembling God works in us to will and to do His good 
pleasure. 

This conception of God forever does away with the pos- 
sibility of divine heartlessness. If wicked men go to war and 
murder one another, God looks upon it not as a thing of no 
concern to himself, nor yet simply in the light of a just retri- 
bution inflicted upon the ill-deserving. God's own life is in 
the struggle. The life of God is being born again through 
agony and pain. "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and 
the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his 
pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them 
all the days of old." (Isaiah 63 : 9.) 

God suffers to redeem. Not only is He afflicted in the 
afflictions of His people, but the Angel of His presence saves 
them. God is no passive sufferer. God is no hopeless, misan- 
thropic invalid. God has not settled down into a condition of 



282 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

meek acceptance of inevitable sorrow. God suffers that He 
may save. 

The world is to be saved. The sorrows of human life are 
not hopeless. He who has given us the cross as the triumphant 
expression of an adequate faith has not left us to suffer hope- 
lessly in the world for which Christ died. God suffers with 
His people that He may redeem them. 

The evil of an unchanging creed is that it leaves no room 
for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It says ' ' I believe in the 
Holy Ghost" but leaves very little for the Holy Ghost to do. 
Its creed is a graven image. For by what process of reasoning 
can it be shown to be more idolatrous to make gods out of 
wood than out of words ; out of logs than out of logic ; out of 
stones than out of syllogisms ; out of dirt than out of defini- 
tions? The evil is not in making creeds, any more than it is 
in painting pictures of Christ ; but it is in holding before the 
eyes of men a work of men's hands as a substitute for the 
spiritual experience of God. Whosoever shall break one of 
the least commandments and shall teach men so, shall be called 
least in the kingdom of heaven. The second commandment is 
not the least of the commandments, and he violates it who 
makes an unyielding creed and teaches men so. 



IV. THE REPEAL OF OBSOLETE CREEDS 

It is often exceedingly difficult to accomplish the formal 
repeal of an obsolete creed. The older it is and hence the 
farther it is removed from the life of to-day, the more difficult 
it is to secure its technical repeal. Sentiment will have come 
to attach its own meanings to venerable words and phrases 
until it seems a sacrilege to remove it from its time-honored 
place in the organic law of the church. 

Moreover, the proposal to remove it will often rouse this 
challenge : Why should we not seek to bring our decadent faith 
up to the level of that expressed in the creed rather than to 
lower our credal tests to conform to an admittedly changed 
and presumably deteriorated condition? 

This view was strongly presented before the National 
Council in 1886 in a paper by Dr. George R. Leavitt. A com- 
mittee had been appointed to report on the state of the 
churches and ministerial supply, but instead of a report it 
presented two quite independent papers', one by Dr. Quint on 
"Ministerial Supply," and the other by Dr. Leavitt in answer 
to the question whether the disappointingly small accessions 
to the churches might be due to too high a standard prevalent 
among them either with respect to Christian duty or doctrinal 
confession. He assumed that our churches in general ' ' would 
decline to receive as members, persons who insist upon the 
liberty to dance, to play cards, to attend the theater and the 
opera," and to do certain other things which he specified in 
a rather long list. He admitted that in some places where 
"local laxity prevailed" a person who did one or more of 

283 



284 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

these things might conceivably become a member of a Con- 
gregational church, and he stated the issue thus : 

Perhaps this statement is sufficiently clear and full to bring 
before us the customary tests restricting admission to our Congre- 
gational churches. The question before us is: Will it be wise to 
modify these tests? It is to be observed that the question is not 
whether, in our judgment, a person can be hopefully a Christian 
who is not able to meet these tests, but rather whether we should 
shape our terms of admission in especial view of an assumed class 
of such persons? Or, rather, again, it may be said to be, whether 
we ought to recast our tests in such a manner as to secure a greater 
certainty that we do not turn any true Christian away, even at an 
involved addition of risk of receiving to our membership, in in- 
creased numbers, two classes of persons, — the unconverted and the 
inconsistent. 

In the matter of creed tests he was equally emphatic. It 
seemed to him entirely certain that Jesus on the night of the 
last supper would have refused the sacramental cup to Peter 
or John, or any of the others, if one of them had expressed a 
doubt as to the eternity of future punishment: 

Or. again, suppose John to have risen there, and presented to 
the Saviour his scruples: "My beloved Lord, in the past I have 
believed in the righteousness and the certainty of the revealed 
judgment upon the impenitent. But since hearing more fully of 
your wonderful teachings concerning love, as the essential spirit 
of the Gospel, above all, since seeing it so divinely exemplified in 
your life, I cannot, suffer me to say it, I cannot believe that any 
soul will be finally lost. I know your teachings upon this terrible 
subject. I do not overlook that you have given so great and so ex- 
plicit emphasis upon these teachings within the present week. But 
I cannot receive them. I cannot believe that there is to be a separ- 
ation, forever, of the righteous and the wicked. This part of your 
teaching is too severe. May it not be relaxed?" Under these cir- 
cumstances would the Saviour, is it conceivable, have put that mem- 
orial cup to the lips even of John — the cup of death and life? Or 
suppose Thomas to have declared a doubt, as cherished by him, 
of the divine authority of the words of Christ, and of the 
entire volume of Scripture. Or suppose Nathanael to have ques- 
tioned whether a guileless life would not be a sufficient claim for 
salvation, expressing a doubt of the efficacy or the necessity of a 
sacrificial atonement for sin. 

With respect to doctrine, his convictions were quite as 
strong. He believed our doctrinal tests to be Scriptural in 



THE REPEAL OF OBSOLETE CREEDS 285 

the sense that the customary creeds could be established by 
proofs deduced from Holy Scripture. He referred to the 
then recently published creed of 1883 in terms that implied 
a conviction that this document involved a dangerous letting 
down of the doctrinal standards of the denomination. Those 
of us who knew and honored Dr. Leavitt and who never es- 
teemed him more highly than when he differed from us in 
judgment, can imagine with what fervor he uttered this pro- 
test against any abatement of stringent doctrinal tests as a 
condition of church membership : 

Shall we let down the bars? This is the question, brethren, of 
the National Council. This was not the question in the early dec- 
ades of this century, when our life was spiritually renewed and our 
great benevolent and missionary work was inaugurated in the be- 
ginnings of an imperial history. It was not a question at Boston 
in 1865; it was not a question at Oberlin in 1871, when President 
Finney laid his hands upon us in dying benediction. But this year 
this is one of the questions raised for us. Standing in this place 
of high survey, hearing the, Saviour charging us, Lift up your eyes 
and look upon the field; seeing these vast cities, with their for- 
midable problems; surveying this great continent lying east and 
west to the oceans; looking toward the millions of a South where 
the bars have been down for a hundred years, shall our word be, 
"Lower the bars?" Is this a part of the work which presses upon 
the conscience of this Council? Is this in the message for the hour? 
Have we then had such success in the process of revision of creeds? 
Has our latest attempt so promoted peace and spiritual power? 
Has it so manifestly obtained the favor of Heaven, that we are 
encouraged to go further on this line with our creeds, and even 
to reach beyond and lay hands upon our covenants also? Shall 
we lower the bars which for so many of us were not too high for 
our infant feet, nor for those of our children? — safeguards which, in 
times of sacred experience, moved by the Holy Spirit, we and our 
awakened churches have so plainly raised a little higher, Hhough 
still not too high, for the feet of the children, or for the simplest of 
spiritual wayfarers. Shall we, under the clarified spiritual gaze of 
the men whose honored names here encircle us, let down the bars? 

But whether it be called a lowering of the bars or not 
human creeds have their day and cease to be, and no man 
would have contended more strongly than Dr. Leavitt against 
the spiritual right of creeds to tyrannize over the souls of men, 
however earnestly he might have contended for a particular 
creed. 



286 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Even so staunch and noble a Puritan as Dr. Leavitt, who 
would have fought against any man's right to impose upon 
him a document like the Athenasian creed, was quite capable 
of fighting courteously but fearlessly against any attempt to 
"let down the bars" by substituting the Creed of 1883 for the 
Burial Hill Confession. 

We are told in the epistle to the Hebrews that "that 
which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanish- 
ing away," but this process is often a retarded one. The 
brazen serpent of Moses unto which men looked and were 
healed and which might have become to them a veritable 
symbol of the uplifted Christ became instead an object of su- 
perstitious reverence. It did not vanish away automatically. 
It called for somewhat heroic treatment on the part of Heze- 
kiah who referred to it in terms of contempt and ground it to 
powder. 

Now it is a pity that any really worthy creed should ever 
have had to be treated thus, but one need look only to the 
Anglican refusal to abolish the Athenasian Creed, to Presby- 
terian conservatism with respect to the Westminster standards, 
and to the repeated refusal of the Methodist General Confer- 
nce to eliminate from its discipline certain admittedly obsolete 
portions; to realize how very difficult it may become to secure 
by formal vote a recognition of what may have come to be 
tacitly acknowledged by everybody that a particular creed 
adopted by a church many years ago is no longer the creed of 
the church. 

As a general rule a creed becomes obsolete a long 1 while 
before it is repealed. The earnest protest of two or three aged 
members will usually postpone until a decent interval succeed- 
ing their funerals an attempt to substitute a more modern 
creed for that which is upon the books of the church. 

It is here that the perplexing question often rises, What 
is the duty of the church and the minister when the creed is 
manifestly outgrown, but there are sentimental or other 






THE REPEAL OF OBSOLETE CREEDS 287 

reasons which prevent an immediate change ? The question is 
as perplexing in the administration of obsolete law as it is in 
the interpretation of obsolete creeds. With reference to laws, 
Hon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, recently con- 
tributed a suggestive article to The Atlantic Monthly. 

We Americans have got into the habit of saying of ourselves, or 
permitting others to say of us, that we are a law-breaking people. 
The fact is that we are probably the most law-abiding people in 
the world. We have an inexplicit and inexplicable method of re- 
pealing some of the laws we outgrow by simply ceasing to observe 
them; but, in the maintenance of order in society through the auto- 
matic self-control of the people, none but the simplest rural so- 
cieties can compare with us. 

These dead-letter laws, naturally enough, are in all stages of 
being dead. Those against witchcraft have been dead so long that 
even the sharpest eyes can find but the memory of them; those 
requiring men to tell the truth in personal-property tax returns, 
equally but not so anciently dead, can still be summoned, like Glen- 
dower's spirits and with like effect, from the vastly deep; and those 
of more recent repudiation have, here and there, a tardy friend 
who refuses to accept the current notion of their deadness and so 
calls them occasionally into fitful simulations of being alive. It is 
this last class that causes the trouble, and out of it arises one 
of the most embarassing phases of the whole question of law-en- 
forcement. Mayors, administrations, and police forces are more 
often and more successfully attacked from this point than any 
other, and the consequences, all too often, are corrupted policemen 
and shuffling executives who give the best excuse they can think 
of at the moment for failure to: do the impossible, but succeed in 
adding nothing to the dispute but a sense of their own perplexity. 

The argument ordinarily presented marches with a stately 
tread. "You have taken an oath to enforce all the laws," the chair- 
man of the Law-Enforcement League will say; 'here is a law you 
are not enforcing. You are not chosen to elect Which laws are to 
be enforced, nor have you any means whatever of determining 
whether this law is approved by the general conscience. The best 
way to repeal a bad law is to enforce it." Now the logic of this is 
sound enough, but the history of our law from the earliest times 
shows that we Anglo-Saxons have preferred a wholly different way 
of making and unmaking our laws; and however desirable this 
perfectly logical way may be in itself, it just is not our way. We 
have chosen to let the acts and thoughts of individuals make what- 
ever head they can until they become customs ; and then some legis- 
lative body discovers them in full operation by common consent, 
and by enactment "crystalizes them into law." The process of un- 
making is much the same. A custom is the aggregate of individual 
habits, and a new custom replaces an old one as an increasing num- 
ber of individuals change their habits, — an imperceptible and teas- 



288 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

ing process which leaves the inquirer as to the state of the law, at 
some moments in its course, sadly puzzled. 

Even the Law-Enforcement Leagues plainly have some sense 
of this fact; their arguments, grounded on generalizations, always 
end in an instance. The sensational pulpit will rebuke the police 
department for its failure to enforce the law ; a committee, will wait 
upon the mayor and demand enforcement to the letter ; but whether 
the committee be clerical or lay, and however broad the foundation 
laid upon the vice of disregard of law, the object finally appears to 
be to secure the enforcement of some particular law. It may be the 
midnight or Sunday closing of saloons, the prohibition of theatrical 
exhibitions on Sunday or prize fights on any day, or another spas- 
modic revival of the notion that merely putting a few women through 
the amercing processes of the police court will suppress vice; but 
when such a delegation is asked whether the lesson of respect for 
law will not be further impressed by stopping Sunday street-cars, 
suppressing the Sunday newspaper, holding up the milkman, 
and generally restoring by force the sabbath of the statutes, Wis- 
dom triumphs over knowledge, and the reply invariably is 
that it would be better to take one thing at a time and 
especially the one thing then agitating that particular delegation. 
Often the order asked is given, with the result that the committee 
reports back in triumph, the league chooses a new subject to 
fret about, and the executive goes again through the discouraging 
and futile experience of trying to get officers, prosecutors, judges, 
and juries to do just what none of them will do, — namely, convict 
people of crime for doing things that are the community habit and 
practice. Clearly it would be better if all the law could be written 
and all that is written be law. Clearly it is a bungling system to 
leave this borderland between the live and the dead law to be ex- 
plored by the discretion of individual officers, and to have these 
constant controversies as to the existence and location of the river 
of doubt; but we trail centuries of experience behind us in our 
preference for this way of doing things, and the, alternatives are not 
free from difficulties of a formidable kind. 

For one thing, it will never be easy for us to give up the inter- 
nal elasticity of our system in exchange for a rigid regimentation of 
society in which our daily lives will run by rules. "We have a sense 
of freedom in our institutions which seems almost to imply a con- 
sciousness that we made the rules to which we conform and are 
busy revising them, from day to day. Moreover, our democracies 
are too large to act with the speed of a town meeting; and we must, 
therefore, have some way of carrying things along until we are sure 
enough of the permanence of a new practice to justify putting so 
large a machine in motion to give it formal expression. We prefer 
to have mistakes made, now and then, by those whose business it is 
to enforce the laws, rather than to subject ourselves to a mechani- 
cal enforcement of arbitrary regulations which do not grow as we 
grow and do not ease up as we push the whole social weight against 
them. 

The common-law jury system exemplifies the whole story. 
Originally the jury was a company of eye-witnesses gathered to- 



THE REPEAL OF OBSOLETE CREEDS 289 

gether to declare a fact by comparison of their own recollections 
as to its occurrence. Now it is a company of twelve human, habit- 
forming beings whose function is to prevent the letter of the law 
from killing the spirit of the community. The lawyers may read 
and the judges charge, but the jury will not convict unless justice 
is going to be done, and justice to them means the enforcement of 
the expectation of the community as to personal conduct. They 
enforce neither the law that has been nor tttie law that is to be, 
but the law that is ; and when the police have made a lot of arrests 
and have produced flawless proof of guilt under the letter of the 
Statute, only to have their trouble for their pains, with acquittal 
following each arrest, they quite naturally decide to devote their 
energies to other classes of cases; and that particular statute, for 
the time being at least, has suffered a democratic repeal. — Law, 
Police and Social Problems, by Hon. Newton D. Baker in Atlantic 
Monthly. 

Many good people stand ready to take issue with Mr. 
Baker both as to law and to creeds. They take their stand on 
the affirmation of President Grant that the best way to secure 
the repeal of a bad law is to enforce it, and that the only thing 
to do with a creed so long as it remains unrevoked is to believe 
it unreservedly, preach it outspokenly, and insist upon its 
acceptance unflinchingly. But in actual practice it has been 
proved that the enforcement of a bad law is not commonly the 
cause of the repealing of the law, but rather the occasion of 
the defeat of a good administration at the next election. 

It is interesting to note how Jesus dealt with the proposi- 
tion of enforcing an obsolete statute. There was brought to 
Him a woman who had been taken in adultery, and the law 
said she should be stoned. That law had become obsolete 
through neglect, and in the time of Jesus the Jews had no 
authority to enforce a capital sentence. The men who brought 
this poor woman to Jesus had as fine an opportunity as such 
men could ever wish to learn whether Jesus would favor the 
enforcement of an obsolete law even at the cost of bringing 
down upon himself the wrath of the Roman government. 
What Jesus did was something more than to evade the issue. 
Jesus probably believed that the law was a good one in the 
time of Moses, but that it was unwise to enforce it in His own 
day. In any event He did not direct that it should be enforced. 



290 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Creeds are often abolished by the method of repeal which 
Jesus recognized with respect to this Mosaic statute, even 
though they remain in their original place and form in the 
church Constitution; even though people subscribe to them 
and recite them, they are already repealed. 

The adoption of a creed is generally a proclamation that 
it is already virtually obsolete. No creed can be adopted until 
the thinkers of a denomination have been overtaken by a great 
body of their slowly moving followers. If the really creative 
minds of a generation were at liberty to make and adopt its 
creeds, they would formulate documents in terms unintelligible 
to the great body of those for whose use they were intended. 
But by the time a sufficient number of the advance guards of 
thought have gone, to the stake for their convictions, two 
things are likely to have happened. The leaders will have 
grown a little more prudent, and the multitude will have 
advanced somewhat beyond their former stupidity and hos- 
tility to the truth, so it will have become possible to make a 
creed acceptable to a sufficient body of both conservatives and 
progressives to permit of the creed's adoption. But the very 
fact that the creed is now adopted is a virtual admission that 
it no longer expresses adequately the thought of the leaders. 
The business of creed-making is a perpetual building of the 
tombs of the prophets, whom our fathers slew, and is a warn- 
ing to us to have a care lest our own merry executions include 
in them now and then a prophet. 

An ancient creed is a palimpsest. The original words are 
there, written by some venerable hand that long since returned 
to dust, but between the lines of the same parchment are writ- 
ten the declarations of men's living faith. As the Jews placed 
the vowel points of the human title ■ ' Lord ' ? beneath the four 
consonants which spelled the holy name Jehovah, and recited 
it "Lord" until they forgot and never relearned the original 
pronunciation, so creeds retain the consonants of the original 
writers and the vowels of the modern interpreters. 



THE REPEAL OF OBSOLETE CREEDS 291 

Nor are these necessarily at fundamental variance. The 
modern thinker, who, if he were at liberty to do so, might 
choose to express his faith in quite other terms, but who is 
required either by ecclesiastical authority or the exigencies of 
Christian co-operation to recite an ancient formulary, may be 
able, and some such men undeniably are able, to put the new 
wine of their living faith into the old bottles of the ancient 
creed. 

And yet, there is a more excellent way, which is to face 
frankly the fact that the creed is a temporary instrument, and 
that it ought to be frequently revised, and after no great 
interval replaced, by one that embodies the truth of the Gospel 
in the speech of living men. 



V. A TESTIMONY, NOT A TEST 

The author of this volume has been credited with the 
authorship of the affirmation that in Congregationalism, creeds 
are a testimony, and not a test ; and he has been informed that 
the distinction is an impossible one. The distinction is entirely 
valid, and neither the words nor the principle of this distinc- 
tion are original with this author. This statement came into 
common currency in connection with the discussions concern- 
ing the Creed of 1883, and it was distinctly in accord with our 
historic attitude toward confessions of faith. 

But that was not the origin of this happy and truthful 
phrase. It was quoted with approval, in the Congregational 
Quarterly in 1862, from a sermon by Prof. Daniel T. Smith, 
before the Maine Missionary Society, in 1856, in which he 
protested against what had come to be the prevailing custom 
of requiring "as a necessary qualification for admission, an 
assent to creeds and covenants so framed as to place obstacles 
in the way of receiving many whose Christian character is 
unhesitatingly acknowledged," and declaring that according 
both to the New Testament standards and the history of Con- 
gregationalism, ' ' the creed of a church is to be looked upon not 
so much in the light of a test as of testimony ; and that its true 
use consists not in its furnishing a standard by which to esti- 
mate in all cases the character of one who claims to be a 
follower of Christ, but in its being a means of maintaining in 
the world those views which it is believed that Scripture was 
designed to teach, in distinction from the errors which its lan- 
guage may be perverted to support. ' ' 

Whether this felicitous phrase originated with Professor 
Smith, the present writer does not know : but that he stated the 

292 



A TESTIMONY, NOT A TEST 293 

historic position of Congregationalism, there is abundant tes- 
timony. 

The Preface to the Savoy Confession says : ' ' Confessions, 
when made by a company of professors of Christianity, jointly 
meeting to that end, . . the most genuine and natural use of 
such is, that, under the form of words, they express the sub- 
stance of the same common salvation. . . . And, accordingly, 
such a transaction is to be looked upon but as a meet or fit 
medium whereby to express that their common faith and salva- 
tion, and in no way to be made use of as an imposition upon 
any. Whatever is of force or constraint, in matters of this 
nature, causeth them to degenerate from the name and nature 
of confessions, and turns tJiem from being confessions of faitJi 
into impositions and exactions of faith; .... there being noth- 
ing that tends more to heighten dissensions among brethren 
than to determine and adopt the matter of their difference 
under so high a title as to be an article of our faith. ' ' Upham 
maintained that churches ' ' have a right to say on what condi- 
tions others, either individuals or bodies of men, shall share 
their fellowship ; ' ' saying, ' ' They can enter into fellowship 
with others with whose prinicples they more nearly agree." 
— Rat. Dis. 57. But Cummings answered, ' i This reasoning 
seems to hold only on the supposition that churches are strictly 
voluntary, in distinction from divinely instituted, bodies. If 
churches are of divine institution, then all true Christians 
have a right to share in them all the privileges of the sons of 
God. It is their Father's table and their Father's Church; 
and what right have their brethren to debar them ? ' ' 

Richard Mather says: "They may have a platform by 
way of profession of their faith, but not a binding rule of faith 
and practice. ... If so, then they ensnare men attending more 
to the form of doctrine delivered from the authority of the 
church. . . . than to the examining thereof according to the 
Scriptures" (Church Covenant, 64). Burton, in his Rejoin- 
der to Prynne's Reply to his Answer to Twelve Considerable 



294 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Questions, says: "It is the greatest possible tyranny over 
men's sonls to make other men's judgments the rule of my 
conscience." (p. 19). Thomas Goodwin, in his letter to John 
Goodwin, is equally explicit on this point: so is Hubbard, in 
his History of Massachusetts. John Cotton, in his Answer to 
Ball, says : t ' When a church is suspected and slandered with 
corrupt and unsound doctrine, they have a call from God to 
set forth a public confession of their faith ; but to prescribe the 
same as the confession of faith of that church to their pos- 
terity, or the prescribed confession of faith of one church to 
be a form and pattern unto others, sad experience has 1 showed 
what a snare it has been to both. ' ' Even Herle, in his contro- 
versy with Mather and Tompson, disclaims "such a fan to 
purge the religious floor with, and setting the sun by the dial. ' ' 
The Apologetical Narrative of the Independents in the West- 
minster Assembly asserts that their rules of admission were 
such "as would take in any member of Christ. We took 
measure of no man's holiness by his opinions, whether con- 
curring with us or adverse from us." Baillie, in his Letters 
to Spang, says : ' ' Thomas Goodwin, at that meeting, declared 
that he cannot refuse to be members, nor censure when mem- 
bers, any for Anabaptism, Lutheranism, or any errors which 
are not fundamental and maintained against knowledge." 
The same principles are advanced by Cotton, in his Holiness of 
Church Members ; and in the preface to the Savoy Confession. 
John Owen says: "We will never deny the communion to 
any person whose duty it is to desire it." Samuel Mather 
shows that all Christians ought to be admitted to any of 
Christ's churches. Cotton Mather says: "The churches of 
New England make only vital piety the terms of communion 
among them ; and they all, with delight, see godly Congrega- 
tionalists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Anti-pedobaptists, 
and Lutherans, all members of the same churches, and sitting 
together without offence in the same holy mountain, at the 
same holy table. ' ' Speaking of the use then made of creeds, he 



A TESTIMONY, NOT A TEST 295 

says of candidates for admission : ' l To the relation of his re- 
ligious experience is added either a confession of faith of the 
person's own composing, or a briefer intimation of what pub- 
licly-received confession he chooses to adhere to." He says: 
1 ' It is the design of these churches to make the terms of com- 
munion run as parallel as may be with the terms of salvation. 
A charitable consideration of nothing but true piety, in admit- 
ting to evangelical privileges, is a glory which the churches of 
New England would lay claim to." Dr. Watts, in his Terms 
of Christian Communion, shows . that the churches may not 
appoint new rules of admission; as a general rule should 
admit all who make a credible profession of religion ; exclude 
no sheep of the fold, and admit no unclean beast; take heed 
not to make the door of admission larger or straiter than 
Christ made it ; and that nothing be in their covenant but what 
is essential to common Christianity. He has a list of substan- 
tial articles, all very fundamental, save that of the mode and 
subjects of baptism, which he argues (whether consistently or 
no) is fundamental to the peace of the church. And he shows 
that the Christian church nourished more than a hundred 
years without any set creeds, and argues their utter insuf- 
ficiency, because they often have the assent neither of the 
head nor the heart. So late as 1801, Dr. Worcester's church 
in Fitchburg say, in defence of their creed, if the candidate 
dissented from any article, and it did not appear to result 
from enmity to the truth, he was admitted; "for it was never 
designed to exclude any from communion who appear to be 
real subjects of experimental religion." Thomas Goodwin 
shows that we are to bear with Christians for the sake of 
Christ that is in them, and therefore tolerate them as Chris- 
tians, but contend earnestly for the faith. Dr. Kippis, in his 
Vindication of Dissenting Ministers, says: "We dissent be- 
cause we deny the right of any body of men, whether civil or 
ecclesiastical, to impose human creeds, tests, or articles; and 
because we think it our duty not to submit to any such imposi- 



296 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

tion, but to protest against it as a violation of our essential 
liberty to judge and act for ourselves in matters of religion. ' ' 
He adds: "They will not subscribe to human forms, which 
themselves believe, when isuch formularies are pressed upon 
them by an incompetent and usurped authority. ' ' He shows 
that ministers, believers in the doctrine of the Trinity, voted 
that no human composition or interpretation of that doctrine 
should be made a part of the Articles of Advice in 1719. Ply- 
mouth Church covenanted "to walk in a church state, in all 
God 's ways made known or to be made known to them. They 
reserved an entire perpetual liberty of searching the inspired 
records, and forming both their principles and practices from 
those discoveries they should make therein, without imposing 
them on others. Milford Church, Conn., founded in 1640, had 
a covenant ; but no mention is made of any confession of faith. 
The original covenant of the First Church in Boston, after the 
preamble, is simply this: "Do solemnly and deliberately, as 
in Christ's holy presence, bind ourselves to walk, in all our 
ways, according to the rule of the gospel, in all sincere con- 
formity to his holy ordinances, and in mutual love and respect 
to each other, so far as God shall give us grace.'' Every 
member wrote his own confession in his own way, and to the 
satisfaction of those who received him into their fellowship. 
At first the churches of New England were usually constituted 
with no other form than a covenant. The author of Seasonable 
Thoughts on Creeds and Articles of Faith as Religious Tests, 
asks: "Do not the framers and advocates of creeds, as tests of 
orthodoxy and Christian communion, seem to confess that they 
are not satisfied with the Bible on this subject? ... If creeds 
are necessary to guard against heretics, the Bible is not a suf- 
ficient rule. ... Do they operate, have they operated, or are 
they likely ever to operate, as an effectual preventive to un- 
principled and heretical men gaining admission into a Chris- 
tian church?" Dr. Eckley shows that if creeds could be made 
perfect, then nothing would be necessary but to learn the 



A TESTIMONY, NOT A TEST 297 

creed. Foxcroft, in his Century Sermon, says: "The Con- 
gregationalists were for having the rule of Christianity be the 
rule of conformity." Morton, in his New England Memorial, 
says: "Higginson's Confession of Faith and Covenant was 
acknowledged only as a direction pointing to that faith and 
covenant contained in the Holy Scriptures; and therefore no 
man was confined to that form of words, but only to the sub- 
stance and scope of the matter contained therein; and, for 
the circumstantial manner of joining the church, it was or- 
dered according to the wisdom and faithfulness of the elders, 
together with the liberty and ability of any person. Hence it 
was that some were admitted by expressing their consent to 
that written confession of faith and covenant ; others did an- 
swer questions about the principles of religion, that were 
publicly propounded to them; some did present their confes- 
sion in writing, which was read for them ; and some, that were 
able and willing, did make their own confession, in their own 
words and way." Letchford, in his Plain Dealing, shows very 
minutely that profession of faith was made either by question 
and answer or else by solemn speech,, as to the sum and tenor 
of the Christian faith laid down in the Scriptures, the officers 
in the church, and their duties. Such is the evidence of one 
who complained of their too great strictness, because they re- 
quired evidence of experimental religion. He spoke that which 
he knew, and testified that he had seen. * ' Such testimonies, ' ' 
says Cummings, from whose painstaking collections the fore- 
going are selected, "ought to set for ever at rest the notion 
that Higginson's Confession of Faith was used as a constitu- 
tion of the church and a test of admission." John Corbett 
says : ' ' We need no human addition to> sacred things, nor any 
mutable circumstances to be terms of fellowship." Cotton 
Mather, in his Letter to Lord Barrington, says: "No church 
on earth so notably makes the terms of communion run parallel 
with the terms of salvation. The only declared basis of union 
among them is that vital piety in which all good men, of differ- 



298 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

ent names, are united." Robinson reminds the Plymouth 
immigrants, on parting, that it is an article of their church 
covenant "to be ready to receive whatever of truth shall be 
made known to them from the written word of God." The 
Rev. C. Upham shows that it is a fundamental principle of 
Congregationalism not to impose a test, which may not be com- 
plied with by all sincere Christians. In a similar manner 
argue Dr. West (Anniversary Plymouth Sermon, 58, 59), 
President Stiles (Convention Sermon, 45), John Howe 
(Works, 459, 931), and Mauduit (Case of Dissenting Minis- 
ters, 34, 35). "It was not the use of creeds, but making them 
separate acknowledged Christians, which our fathers con- 
demned, ' ' says Cummings. - ' Their confessions were orthodox 
explicit manifestoes, not tests of admission. Some churches at 
this day have similar creeds, but require assent only to the 
substance of them ; while others, making tests of their creeds, 
have frittered them down to the standard of those weakest in 
the faith. Few churches have too high a standard of admis- 
sion, but it should consist only in true faith and vital godli- 
ness." Mitchell says: " Congregationalists object to creeds 
being used as tests, or set up as standards to enforce uniform- 
ity. ... As articles of peace and bonds of union, we fear they 
create divisions as often as they prevent them;" and, speaking 
of some ' ' who think that heaven and earth should pass, rather 
than one jot or tittle of the exact wording of the prescribed 
creed .... be not fulfilled," he says: "Any brother that 
offends in one point they hold to be guilty of all ,and obnoxious 
to ecclesiastical censure. They put their strait- jacket upon the 
limbs of Charity, who loves freedom as she loves truth, and 
make their narrow views the jail-limits, within which she walks 
afflicted and confined.' ' 

The election of Henry Ware as Hollis Professor of Divin- 
ity in Harvard in 1805 led to a violent controversy with a 
demand for a tightening of creed conditions. The protest 
against Prof. Ware's election, because of his known advanced 



A TESTIMONY, NOT A TEST 299 

views, was sounded by Professor Pearson, a member of the 
corporation, and espoused by Dr. Jedediah Morse of Charles- 
town, in a pamphlet of "True Reasons." The Corporation 
replied to his demand that Prof. Ware undergo examination 
as to his orthodoxy, — 

"That this attempt to introduce a categorical examination 
into the creed of a candidate was a barbarous relic of inquisi- 
torial power, alien alike from the genius of our government, 
and the spirit of our people. ' ' 

Quotations like the foregoing could be multiplied, and 
the only reason that the already large number of declarations 
on this point is not many times larger is that this principle 
was undisputed in early Congregationalism. In an able article 
in the Congregational Quarterly in 1869, Dr. A. H. Quint thus 
summarized the usage of our denomination : 

1. Doctrinal beliefs are, not the life itself. That life is 1 love. 
"He that loveth is born of God." But nothing is easier, as history 
abundantly proves, than to mistake orthodoxy for faith. It is a 
question whether the custom of our churches in baptizing candidates 
immediately after their profession of doctrinal orthodoxy, instead of 
after the covenant of faith, does not lie in the direction of this mis- 
take. The Articles of Faith, assent to which is required of candi- 
dates, are not a confession of faith in Christ. Many unconverted 
persons "believe" them all. The "covenant" is the proper avouch- 
ment of faith in Christ. But baptism after the creed, as though 
it were the sign and seal of orthodoxy, instead of after the cove- 
nant, as the sign and seal of faith (see Shorter Catechism, 94, 95), 
tends to obscure the distinction between orthodoxy and faith. (See 
report of a committee on this subject in the Minutes of the General 
Association of Massachusetts, 1867.) The brutal violence of the 
"Robber Council" at Ephesus, assembled in 449 to decide the ques- 
tion of Christ's nature, or natures; the fierceness with which theo- 
logians have fought over the words of redeeming love, "This is my 
body, given for you," attest how easy it is to cover total lack of the 
spirit with a cloak of zeal for the letter. Indeed, it is not easy to 
think kindly of those whose religious belief we detest. Nor is the 
odium theologicum as yet a fossil curiosity, even among "liberal" 
Christians. "Without charity I am nothing." "If any man love God, 
the same is known of him." 

2. The life only can keep, assimilate, work up the doctrine. 
Doctrine without life is food in the stomach of a corpse, sure to 
corrupt. Let the religion of a creed die out, and its theology will 
change. Thus rose the Socinian apostasy in Masachusetts, as has 
been thoroughly demonstrated. (Clark's History of the Congrega- 



300 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

tional Churches of Masachusetts.) When we see the clergy of the 
Anglican Church subscribing to her Thirty-nine Articles, and ex- 
hibiting every phase of belief from orthodoxy to rationalism, from 
high Protestantism to high Ritualism, we learn just how much re- 
liance can be placed on doctrinal tests for securing consistency and 
purity of faith. Better the apostolic way, — visiting the widows and 
fatherless in their affliction. Charity which "never faileth" (Gal. v. 
4; 2 Pet. iii. 17) keeps "unspotted from the world" better than any 
subscription. "Knowledge putteth up, but charity buildeth up." 
Yet we would keep the doctrinal test also, but in its proper place 
and use. 

3. Disparagement of precision in doctrine betokens a low or 
unhealthy state of the life. Be the creed kept free from antiquated 
phraseology like a tree from dead wood; reformulated from time 
to time, as the Christian consciousness attains to clearer thought 
and more exact expressions ; and let it be kept also in its legitimate 
use, so as to disfranchise no true believer, and' it argues a lack of 
iron in the blood to be impatient of hearing it read, willing to let 
truth be ambiguously and vaguely held, unfriendly to creeds in 
general. A little persecution would be good for such good people. If 
they lived in a martyr period, they would soon define precisely what 
they did and what they did not believe. And those of them that 
loved the truth well enough to die for it would want to state that 
costly truth so truly that no unbeliever could profess it without 
falsehood. The martyr church did that in making the Creed of 
Nicaea such that no Arian could honestly subscribe it. That dis- 
tinguished New England orator who some time since disparaged 
the Declaration of Independence as a "string of glittering general- 
ities," had he lived on into the sacrifices of the civil war, would 
doubtless have recanted what he said in the degenerate period pre- 
ceding it. And those "liberal" Christians who are so hard upon 
Creeds, were they martyred a little, would learn — that is, those that 
could abide the lesson — the preciousness of the truth which the 
heroes of the faith have bequeathed as a blood-bought inheritance 
to their posterity. 

4. Imperfection in doctrinal belief should debar no true Chris- 
tian from church-fellowship. To exclude a child from school for 
ignorance, to look for the fruit as soon as the root, is preposterous. 
Where "the power of godliness" is, there "the form" will come under 
favoring circumstances in time, as the skeleton develops and hard- 
ens into proper symmetry with the lapse of childhood into manhood. 
Not the least of the "plagues" — mischiefs — that come upon those 
who add to the things written in the book is the discouragement of 
the children from coming early into the] church. Assent to a creed 
is valueless, if made on the authority of another mind; and yet it 
is beyond the ability of most children to assent, understandingly, 
to the theological creeds of some of our churches. And the closer 
our observance, with all sorts of persons, of the apostolic terms of 
church fellowship, the better for the church and the doctrine. Every 
regenerate person has a Divine right to church fellowship. "Grace 
be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity," — if 
grace, then, by orderly approach, the means of grace. Cotton Mather 



A TESTIMONY, NOT A TEST 301 

says: "The churches of New England make only vital piety the 
terms of communion among them." (Rat. Dis. Introd.) John Owen 
says: "We will never deny the communion to any person whose 
duty it is to desire it." (Puritans and their Principles, 295.) Sam- 
uel Mather shows that all Christians ought to be admitted to any 
of Christ's churches. (Apology, 34, and elsewhere.) Dr. Watts, in 
his "Terms of Christian Communion," shows that the churches 
should, as a general rule, admit all who make a credible profession 
of religion, take heed not to make the door of admission larger or 
straiter than Christ made it, and that nothing be in their covenant 
but what is essential to common Christianity. The principle of as- 
similation, every man "to his own place," together with the strict 
maintenance of orthodoxy and piety in the pulpit, will be found 
as potent to produce all desirable uniformity of belief as any initia- 
tory tests in mere theology. We say, then, in the golden words of 
Cotton Mather, let "the terms of communion run parallel with the 
terms of salvation." 

Dr. George M. Boynton said on this subject: 

That which constitutes a Congregational church is its covenant, 
in which its members, on the basis of common convictions as to 
truth and duty, and some unanimity of thought and purpose as to 
the best way of expressing that truth and discharging the duty, 
agree on certain modes of action. 

It is customary for a Congregational church to adopt a creed, 
as an expression of the beliefs in which its members agree and as 
the basis of their common life. They may adopt some form of sound 
words prepared by others, or they may phrase a creed for them- 
selves. There is no Congregational creed prepared or adopted by a 
general council which all churches in the fellowship must adopt. In 
the early days that generally assented to was the Westminister 
Confession as modified in the Savoy Confession (1658, adopted at 
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1680) containing what seemed to be a 
comprehensive and ^fitting expression of their faith. Few Congre- 
gational churches, if any, retain that ancient symbol, and fewer still 
would be willing to adopt it now. It is properly regarded as an 
ancient battle-flag, under which, in their day, the fathers lived and 
fought valiantly, and which the sons should reverently place among 
the trophies of the past. It is thej flag to which we should most of 
us have rallied in its time. It does not represent the issues of to- 
day. (George M. Boynton, "The Congregational Way," pp. 52, 3.) 

The practice of the English Congregational churches is 
in full accord with our own in the matter of receiving all 
Christians into fellowship. On this point Dr. Dale, says, giv- 
ing reasons why all Christians should be members of the 
Church, and why no Christian should be excluded, says, — 



302 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

(I.) Christ founded the Church for all that believe in Him. 
There is nothing in the account of the Church contained in the New 
Testament, there is nothing in the nature of the Church itself, to 
suggest that Christ required any other qualification for membership 
than faith in Himself. The Church is His society, not ours. It is 
a society for His brethren — for all His brethren; for His friends — 
for all His friends. To impose conditions of church membership 
that exclude any of those who are, the brethren and friends of Christ 
is to defeat the purpose for which He founded the Church. 

(II.) Christ has made it the duty of all that believe in Him to 
enter the Church. By refusing to receive any of those who believe 
in Christ, a church prevents them from fulfilling an obligation which 
Christ has imposed upon them. 

(III.) The blessings conferred by the church fellowship are 
meant for all that believe in Christ. If men are the friends of Christ, 
we do them a cruel wrong by refusing them a place as guests at 
His table. If they are the brethren of Christ, we inflict a grave, 
injury on their spiritual life by refusing to receive them with broth- 
erly affection and confidence. As the Gospel of Christ is intended 
for men of all races and all lands, and cannot be deliberately with- 
held from any man without guilt, the strength, the safety, the bless- 
edness, and whatever other blessings come from membership of the 
Church are intended for all that have received the Gospel. 

The polity of every church has its roots in its theology, in its 
conceptions of the relations between God and man, and of the nature 
of the Christian redemption. Congregationalism, in affirming that 
only those who have personal faith in Christ should be members 
of the Church of Christ, asserts in its polity the unique and infinite 
importance which is attributed to personal faith by the whole con- 
tents of the Christian Revelation. But, if any other qualification 
for church membership is demanded, the force of this testimony to 
the unique and infinite importance of personal faith in Christ is 
broken. Faith in Christ is the only condition of the remission of sins 
and of eternal salvation; this great truth is obscured if a church 
insists on anything besides faith in Christ as a condition of church 
membership. — Dales Manual of Congregational Principles, pp. 49-50. 

Dr. A. Hastings Eoss has been quoted as favoring creed 
tests for admission of members and ministers. What he held 
was that, "The church creed should be read at communion 
seasons, but members should be admitted on their assent to a 
simpler form." His words on this subject may be given in 
full: 

' ' Every member on joining the church publicly assents to 
a creed ; and every pastor in accepting the call to any church 
makes its creed a part of his covenant and contract with the 
said church, which he can not honorably break by preaching 



A TESTIMONY, NOT A TEST 303 

another doctrine. Every church and minister on joining an 
association either expressly or impliedly assents to a creed 
and covenant, both of the district body and of the state and 
national bodies. In this way any doctrinal unsoundness in 
church or minister is likely to be detected. There is no slight- 
ing of creeds. Our general confessions, it is true, are mere 
declarations, to which no formal assent is required ; for assent 
to church creeds, associational bases, and inquiry by committee 
or council are sufficient to secure soundness in the faith. The 
Congregational churches of England are less rigid than those 
in America in this regard of doctrinal tests. 

"The creedal tests of admission to church membership 
should not, however, go beyond the Scriptural requirement of 
"repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus 
Christ' ' (Acts 20: 21). Whom the Lord receives in regenera- 
tion his churches are to receive (Rom. 14: 1-5). The creed 
and covenant for admission should be constructed on this 
principle; and hence no elaborate articles of faith or rigid 
examination should stand as tests of admission. There should 
be, therefore, a form of admission to membership separate 
from the creed of the church, and much more simple, that 
children and the weakest believer may enter the nurturing 
home of the saints and be trained in the church up to the 
doctrinal perfection of its creed. The church creed should be 
read at communion seasons, but members should be admitted 
on their assent to a simpler form. This position was taken in 
the Ohio Manual in 1874, and in the creed and confession of 
faith prepared by the commission of the National Council, and 
issued in 1883. Our churches, in placing an elaborate creed 
as the condition of church membership, depart from their 
principles and early practice." — The Church-Kingdom, pp. 
347, 8. 



VI. A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 

Congregational church law is essentially a law of usage. 
No one man and no one group of men determines what is and 
what is not good regular Congregationalism. In order that 
this work may represent as thoroughly as possible not only 
the views and experiences of its author, but also the opinions 
and practices of our churches and ministers generally, I have 
asked ministers of our leading churches in different parts of 
the country to contribute to a symposium concerning creeds 
and church membership. These ministers were asked to state 
in their own language either the custom of their respective 
churches with reference to creed subscription, or their own 
judgment of the place, if any, which it ought to occupy in 
receiving members 1 into a Congregational church. In particu- 
lar they were asked to say whether in their judgment and in 
the practice of their several churches, a local church should 
consider itself at liberty to refuse membership to any Chris- 
tian man even if he could not conscientiously accept its con- 
fession of faith. I give herewith the answers, as I have re- 
ceived them. 

CREEDS VITAL TO FAITH 

A creed is the reasoned and rational explication of the 
Christian faith and experience of an individual or a church. 
I cannot conceive of either a creedless individual or a creed- 
less church, unless it be one which is either unthinking or ir- 
rational. The more vital the faith, the more comprehensive 
and profound the experience, the more long and strong will 
be the creed, provided always the man does not cease to think. 

304 



. A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 305 

If he thinks, and if his Christian faith and life be ever grow- 
ing, he must explicate the results of that faith and experience 
in such fashion as not to stultify his reason. 

The early church made a distinction, a very valid and 
helpful distinction, between a confession of faith and a rule of 
faith. The latter is what is commonly called a creed, as the 
great creeds of the Christian ages, or as most of the creeds in 
use in our individual Congregational churches. They have 
been such creeds as have been defined above. They have 
changed from generation to generation, from body to body, 
as indeed they must if they are to be the utterance of a living 
faith and experience. Each individual Christian will have 
its own. Each individual church will have its own. 
In the case of the church it should be framed to rep- 
resent the beliefs of the church as a whole, so that any 
member of the church when asked what his church believes 
could point at once to the creed of the church, adopted by 
the church, modified from time to time, if need be, by the 
church, on the whole believed in by the church as a whole. 
As for the name for such a church creed I prefer the title a 
standard, rather than a rule, of faith. A rule most commonly 
signifies that up to which a thing or person must come or be 
rejected; a standard most commonly signifies that towards 
which a person strives, though suffering no ill results if he 
never attains it. As a practical pastor I did not rest easy till 
my church had such a standard. Should I return to the pas- 
torate, I should not rest content till the church under my 
leadership had such a standard. It would be a part of my 
duty to attempt to lead them to see its rationality and reason- 
ableness. It, however, should be no part of my duty to turn 
it into a rule of faith, to compel every member of the church 
to accept it or else to leave the church; or to require its ac- 
ceptance by any person, whatever his age, intellectual ability 
or Christian experience, before being admitted to the church. 
This last least of all. 



306 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

For this last, i.e., for admission to the church, there is 
the confession of faith. What should that contain ? The least 
possible and account the confessor a real Christian. In both 
churches which I served I found on my arrival a creed of 
fourteen articles, a creed that was not simply a standard, but 
a rule of faith, a fourteen-barred gate required of every-one, 
a man or child, wise or simple, learned or unlearned, on unit- 
ing with the church. In case of my second and last church, 
I led, and my church readily followed, in the adoption of the 
Creed of 1883 as a standard of faith, and of the Apostles' 
Creed as a confession of faith. As regards' the latter I would 
have gone further; we went as far probably as was wise 
under the conditions then existing. My minimum and 
my maximum for a confession of faith for entrance to 
the church is found in Acts 20: 21: "Repentance towards 
God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. ' ' 

I cannot conceive of a person being a Christian who is 
not repentant toward God, or who does not believe in Jesus 
as Christ, i.e., Saviour, and Lord, or Master of his life. Any 
person who can accept those two, three if you please, condi- 
tions, I cannot shut out of Christ's church. As pastor, I 
tried, and should try, to have every person who sought to 
unite with the church thoroughly understand those conditions, 
honestly accept them and loyally live up to them. 

This for entrance to the church. Then begins the second 
great duty of the pastor to the new member, so to teach him 
and lead him that the simple faith and living experience rep- 
resented by those few conditions shall grow steadily from 
more to more of faith, of experience, and also of rational ex- 
plication of that faith and experience, into creed. Of this pro- 
cess there is no end save the fulness of the Godhead bodily in 
Jesus Christ, and the endless ages of eternity. 

I take a covenant for granted, since the covenant is a 
sine qua non of a Congregational church. The content of the 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 307 

covenant is quite other than that of the confession of faith or, 
still more, of the standard of faith. 

Calvin M. Clark, D. D. 
Professor of Ecclesiastical History in Bangor Theological 
Seminary. 

HONEST CONFESSION OP CHRIST 

The only condition of membership in Plymouth church 
is an honest confession of Jesus Christ as Redeemer and Lord 
and a sincere purpose to follow and obey Him. The church 
does not require subscription to a creed nor does it impose a 
set of rules upon its members. It places each member on his 
honor 1 before God. "To his own Master he standeth or fall- 
eth. ' ' Church membership is not an assumption of perfection ; 
it is a confession of need. The church is the school of Christ 
in which all are undergraduates. "One is your teacher and 
all ye are brethren. ' ' 

Rev. Noble D. Elderkin. 

Formerly of Plymouth Church, Lawrence, Kansas. 

receive all christians 

I would not personally exclude any from church member- 
ship, and I am sure any church would not, who did not ac- 
cept our creed in all its details. I am sure that if any one 
should present a statement of belief of his own, that at heart 
had loyalty and devotion to Jesus he would be accepted. We 
have had several such cases, and these persons have become 
devoted and loyal Christians and church members. Most of 
the people who come into our Congregational churches have 
not had the training essential for theological discriminations, 
and creeds have little meaning (I find) or value to them. 
Thus the following pledge given and received by the First 
Congregational Church of Denver, Colorado is sufficient, and 



308 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

more impressive than the reading of doctrinal articles, every 
phase of which has come out of discussion and controversy and 
has meaning only to the scholar. 

Our basis of church membership is this: We promise to co- 
operate with the members of this church in the study and practice 
of that law which Christ taught as supreme: "Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." 

The question of creeds is becoming less vital. There are 
mysteries of life we cannot fathom. There are forces that 
we constantly use we cannot define. Christianity is one of 
these. The mystery of Christ's person cannot be sounded, but 
the power of his life is a felt and measured fact. To-day we 
approach Christianity not simply as a message to the intelli- 
gence, but as a moral and spiritual force that has infinite life 
building power. Our attitude is not that of the theologian 
whose function it is to reason and explain ; rather that of the 
builder, who may be interested in the geological history of the 
stone he uses, but who selects it because with it he can erect 
his building. Thus the chief value and approach to Christ is 
not through the mystery of his person, but thro his working 
power in life. Thus we are to-day approaching a Christian 
truth from its operative, rather than its dogmatic or specula- 
trie side. 

If you can get anything out of this you are lucky. In 
any case best wishes for you in all your thought and deeds. 

Rev. Andrew Ogilvie. 

First Church, Elkhart, Indiana. 

DEPENDS ON WHICH ARTICLE HE REJECTS 

Our members assent to both the creed and the covenant, 
but before reading the creed I make a statement that, while 
we emphasize one's life, character and purpose, Ave also hold 
certain fundamental beliefs which have been continuous in 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 309 

the church 's history. I have drawn up what I believe to be a 
minimum creed. One may believe much more than I have 
stated; he is not likely to believe less and be a Christian. 
Christians all believe in God, Christ and the Spirit. But they 
do not agree as to how these are related, each to the other. 
Personally I believe that God and the Spirit are the same, 
and that Christ is our best revelation of God. But if the more 
orthodox wish to make another combination and a different 
interpretation, they may do so. Some will say, Why use the 
terms God and Spirit if they are the same 1 My answer would 
be, for convenience, variety of expression, and to describe two 
different aspects or functions of the divine person. A mini- 
mum creed so worded that each may find the essentials and 
each be free to combine and interpret its elements as he will— 
this is the ideal! Whether we should admit a member who 
dissents from the creed would all depend on which article of 
the creed he refused to accept. If he refused to say that he 
believed in God, I guess we would keep him on probation, 
wouldn 't we ? But if he said that he did not like my statement 
that the church is a divinely appointed institution, I would 
say that I do not like it altogether myself, and I would let 
him enter the fold. Rev. Robert E. Brown. 

Second Church, Waterbury, Conn. 

ASSENT TO GREED NOT REQUIRED 

Our members assent to the covenant, but we read the 
creed of the Council, and the great majority of the members 
assent to it. We have received into the church occasionally a 
person who could not assent to every statement of a creed. We 
require full assent to our covenant. If a Congregational 
church has a creed which it has adopted, I do not see how it 
can consistently fail to try to live up to it, and require it of its 
members. We do not require assent to the creed for admission. 
Rev. Charles M. Sheldon, D. D., 

Pastor Central Congregational Church, Topeka, Kan. 



310 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

ADMIT ALL CHRISTIANS 

The members of our church do not assent to anything, as 
is distinctly stated on the third page of the covenant. We 
have no creed except that we have given a general assent to 
the Kansas City creed, and I think it probably comes closer 
than any other to expressing the average sentiment among 
our people. 

My own judgment is that the Congregational church 
should admit to its membership those who are Christian in 
spirit and character, without any reference to Creed subscrip- 
tion. A pastor should certainly not be required to accomodate 
his teachings to the creed of his local church. Indeed how 
can he be entitled to the name of the honest man if he is 
willing to do so. 

Rev. Carl S. Patton, D. D., 

First Church, Columbus, Ohio. 

CREED ASSENT LEADS TO EQUIVOCATION 

It was a dark day for religion when assent to a creed was 
first made a condition of church membership. Creeds are the 
products of theological disputes and are framed to exclude the 
outvoted party. No creed deals with the things that Jesus 
was most interested in. No creed says, ' ' I believe in practicing 
the golden rule," or "I believe that only the childlike enter 
the kingdom." Creed subscription creates no difficulty for 
the thoughtless or the insincere. They readily assent to any- 
thing. But the thoughful and the scrupulous are troubled 
and kept out of the Church. Thus the creed requirement 
operates to lower the average intelligence and sincerity of the 
membership. 

"When a young man, shaking off the temptations of the 
world, decides to confess Christ before men, he meets a pain- 
ful shock when he finds that he cannot enter the church with- 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 311 

out assenting to a creed. Many have come into my study 
in distress over this matter. I say to them, The Church is 
the great institution for continuing the work of Jesus on earth. 
You cannot do without the Church and the Church, cannot do 
without you. By a most unfortunate mistake our forebearers 
put up a creed on the church door. The people who are in 
now do not clearly understand it, and do not heartily believe 
all it seems to say, but they suppose thatit belongs at the door. 
In fact they think very little about it. You will have to as- 
sent to it in some vague and general way and after you are 
in nobody will be likely to refer to it again. 

This is not pleasant adivce to give or to take; it has a 
Jesuitical sound. But what else can you say ? 

Prof. W. G. Ballantine. 

Springfield, Mass. 

THE CHURCH A SCHOOL 

A creed is an achievement. Before one can say, "I be- 
lieve," one must have learned. The historic creeds mark the 
attainment of the past, and indicate an end the present and 
the future are to strive to reach — or to surpass. 

The church is a school, inviting and inciting souls and 
minds to effort, and directing their way. Its true require- 
ment must be the purpose and the effort which shall achieve. 
The only proper test of membership, or of ministry, is this : 
Do you set your eyes towards the heights men have achieved 
and seek to gain or to surpass those heights ? 

Rev. Leslie W. Sprague. 

Sioux FaUs, S. D. 

TO KNOW AND DO GOD 'S WILL 

In the First Church of Pasadena members assent to Cove- 
nant. We have adopted and read at the morning service the 



312 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

Kansas City National Council Creed. We do not insist on 
formal assent to the creed. We want and only require a sin- 
cere desire to know and do the will of God. 

Kev. D. F. Fox, D. D. 
First Church Pasadena, Cal. 

back to Christ's way 

The First Church of Denver leaves its members free to 
make their own speculative creeds. The members assent only 
to the covenant. No church has any right to refuse member- 
ship because of a difference of speculative opinion. Christian- 
ity is a matter of purpose rather than of opinion. The loss of 
practical emphasis on life is a greater tragedy even than the 
loss of intellectual liberty. The resultant confusion is one of 
the main causes of present religious impotence. Of course 
Christ 's example is absolutely at variance with the prevailing 
custom of the church. I wish our Congregational churches 
would come back to Christ's way. 

Rev. Allan A. Tanner. 

Denver, Colorado. 

HAS DROPPED THE APOSTLES ' CREED 

The Central Congregational Church of Boston has re- 
cently dropped the Apostles' Creed from the books of the 
church and has replaced it in the service for the reception of 
members by a Biblical confession of faith which we use regu- 
larly every Sunday morning. I am of the opinion that there 
should be room for wide latitude of opinion in the individual 
interpretation of church creeds and even liberty of dissent in 
the matter of details. Rev. W. L. Sperry. 

Boston, Mass. 

MENTAL RESERVATIONS ARE ALLOWABLE 

We omit the creed. Emphasis is placed on the covenant 
relation and fellowship. Creedal and doctrinal matters are left 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 313 

to the individual conscience. I cannot see how any church 
calling itself Christian can deny membership to one who really 
is a Christian. Christ did not ask His disciples to assent to a 
creed. He did not propose one when He said, "Go ye into 
all the world and preach." The individual is all important, 
not a statement of faith. The latter is at best man-made, par- 
tial and incomplete. Creeds are attempts to strike an average, 
to express the collective rather than an individual belief. No 
church can find or make a creed which will be all inclusive 
and universal. Allowance must always be made for mental 
reservations and private interpretation. The great historical 
creeds were polemical. They were formulated in defense of 
certain doctrines not always supported by Biblical truth as 
we know it to-day. They embody truth as seen by individuals 
of a long ago time. Nevertheless, these creeds are noble, useful 
and impressive helps to liturgical and formal worship. 

Rev. Malcolm Dana. 
Ottumwa, Iowa. 

CREED TESTS DISLOYAL TO PURITANS 

A creed is useful in expressing what a church does believe, 
not in declaring what its members- must believe. Every one 
whose ruling purpose is to do the will of God is eligible to 
fellowship in any Christian church. To deny this is to dis- 
believe that God will teach His children who come to Him for 
knowledge of His will and for the guidance of His Spirit to do 
it. 

A Congregational church which refuses to admit to its 
fellowship any one who is trying to live the life of Christ 
among men is untrue to the faith of our fathers who founded 
our body of churches in the spirit of freedom, and counted no 
cost too great to set forth before mankind the fellowship in 
Christ of those who sought to realize the liberty of the glory 
of the children of God. They, "as the Lord's free people, 



314 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

joined themselves in a covenant of the Lord into a church 
estate, in the fellowship of the Gospel, to walk in all His ways, 
made known, or to be made known unto them, according to 
their best endeavors, whatever it should cost them, the Lord 
assisting them." Such a covenant should be strong enough 
to hold in union all those ' ' whose hearts the Lord had touched 
with heavenly zeal for His truth. ' ' 

Rev. A. E. Dunning, D. D., 
Former Editor of The Congregationalist. 

COVENANT, NOT CREED 

I do not think a Congregational church ought to refuse 
to receive any Christian into membership. My own view is 
that a Congregational church may most wisely be constituted 
by its covenant, after the historic New England fashion, and 
in that case there would be no creed test. Where there is a 
creed, it seems to me that the admission of new members under 
it should be governed by an enlightened and generous cathol- 
icity and by Christian common sense. The minister and people 
should agree that their creed is not to be pressed as a theolog- 
ical test. A creed test as a qualification for church member- 
ship would be the death-blow of Protestantism. 

Prof. John W. Platner. 

Andover Theological Seminary. 

FAITH AND CHRISTIAN CONDUCT SUFFICIENT 

In Plymouth Church we have no creed, but only a cove- 
nant, which, however, by direct word or inference fixes the 
one who assents to it upon the fundamentals of faith. That is, 
it requires one to avow his acceptance of the doctrines taught 
in the Scriptures (leaving him to be the interpreter) and his 
loyalty to Jesus Christ, his Lord and Master. We feel that 
this, with the accompanying certification of earnest Christian 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 315 

purpose and consistent conduct, is all that can be required for 
membership. 

Rev. H. P. Dewey, D. D. 
Plymouth Church, Minneapolis. 

RECEIVE HIM, UNLESS VIOLENTLY ANTAGONISTIC 

In my judgment the Congregational church should not 
refuse to admit to its fellowship anyone who gives evidence of 
being a follower of Christ, unless his attitude to the creed of 
the church is one of such pronounced antagonism that it would 
hardly be hoped that he would share helpfully in the work and 
life of the .church. In this latter case, it would seem wise to 
advise him to seek fellowship with some organization in which 
he felt himself in closer accord. 

Pres. Edward D. Eaton. 

Beloit College. 

ACCEPT ALL DISCIPLES OF CHRIST 

It ought to be an extraordinary case in which the church 
should refuse to accept one whom they believed to be trying 
truly to be a disciple of Christ, though he dissented from the 
creed of the church. This has, of course, been our practice 
in the Second Church of Oberlin for many years. 

Pres. Henry C. King. 

Oberlin, Ohio. 

REMOVE THE FENCE 

When Eliot Church, Newton, Mass., was organized, 72 
years ago, it had a creed of nine articles, as most churches did 
at that time, covering belief in God, the person and work of 
Christ, the Holy Spirit, inspiration of the Scriptures, original 
sin, etc. For about half a century every person uniting with 
the church subscribed to that creed. 



316 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

One day about twenty or twenty-five years ago the pastor 
— who was then Dr. Wolcott Calkins — came back from his 
summer vacation and found the white fence removed from 
around the meeting-house. Newton had grown to be more of 
a city than village and stray cattle were not numerous. He 
called the church committee together and said, "Brethren, 
I see you have removed the fence from the meeting-house; 
now let's remove the fence from the church. " They asked 
him what he meant and he said that the creed kept some good 
people out of the church. They saw the point, and the creed 
was abolished, and a simple covenant was adopted instead. 

Rev. H. Grant Person. 

Eliot Church, Newton, Mass. 

CREEDS NOT ESSENTIAL 

I do not believe that any creed or collection of creeds is 
possessed of infalliblity. Creeds are useful as expressing the 
historical development of Christian thought and experience, 
but their acceptance does not make a Christian nor their en- 
dorsement a Christian church. On the other hand, the in- 
ability of any person to endorse a creed does not imply that 
he is not a Christian. The Congregational tradition builds 
itself upon the relationship of the soul to Christ. If. a man 
has yielded himself to the love and service of Christ, if his life 
is manifestly conforming itself to the law of Christ, the man 
is a Christian. If two or three such persons assemble them- 
selves in the name of Christ to remember Him and to encour- 
age each other in the effort to be like Him and to fulfill His 
will, they are a church. Ministers, deacons, sacraments and 
other developments of organized Christianity are not essential, 
though they may be most desirable. For this reason a church 
would be acting contrary to the Spirit of Christ if she refused 
fellowship to a brother who was loyal to her Lord but stumbled 
over the formulated creeds of brethren in ages past. 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 317 

I question the wisdom of creed making. The practice of 
the greater part of Christendom has been contrary to my con- 
viction. Catholic and Protestant, Evangelical and Unitarian 
churches have resorted to creeds. Unfortunately Congrega- 
tionalists have forgotten their origin and followed suit. There 
is nothing binding on the local church, however, in the action 
of the federation of churches. The church may enter or with- 
draw or be expelled by the federation. 

Rev. John Gardner, D. D., 

Pastor New England Church, Chicago. 

TEST OF CHARACTER AND SPIRIT 

It is not the custom of the First Congregational Church 
of Emporia to require applicants for church membership to 
give assent to any definitely formulated creed, nor is there any 
stereotyped form of covenant used in the reception of mem- 
bers into church membership. That persons making applica- 
tion for membership love the Lord Jesus Christ and are willing 
to do His will according to their best understanding of it is the 
fundamental requirement proposed to those who are seeking 
church membership as it is the basis upon which Christians are 
invited to sit in communion with us. It is the custom of the 
pastor of the church upon the reception of members to ask all 
Christians to enter into covenant relations with those seeking 
fellowship with our church, with the thought in mind and also 
expressed that they are joining a fellowship as broad as Chris- 
tendom and as rich as a united church could make it. I believe 
that the test of church membership should be a test of char- 
acter and of spirit and not a creedal test, and if the minister 
is wise the church will follow him in this method, 

Rev. John H. J. Rice. 

Emporia, Kans. 



318 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

CREED TESTS UNCHRISTIAN 

To impose a creedal test as a condition of church mem- 
bership is a singularly un- Congregational and un-Christian 
requirement, if I read my Congregationalism and Christianity 
aright. Not that creeds are worthless, but their purpose 
should be to bring persons into the church, not to keep them 
out. To that end they should be filled with sweet reasonable- 
ness and noble appeal — a "Ho! every one that thirsteth^ 
spirit, an invitation to freedom of thought and earnestness of 
purpose — radiant with light and life and love. Nothing else 
is a true reflection of the Gospel. Our creeds are beginning 
to catch this spirit, as the Kansas City creed and many of our 
church creeds indicate. We need the bracing effect of affirma- 
tion, especially in dark and trying days ; and the great simple 
affirmations of faith in the Father Almighty and in Jesus 
Christ and in the Life Eternal need to be made and made to- 
gether. But immediately any affirmation is dogmatized and 
intellectualized and defined it ceases to be creedal in character, 
and to use it as a measuring-rod for membership is to abuse 
both ethics and religion. 

For every church to adopt its own creed seems' to me wise 
and well, but for every church to formulate its own creed — 
that depends. In most cases it were wiser to adopt — and I 
think as a denomination we shall continue to move in that 
direction. 

Prof. John Wright Buckham. 

Pacific Theological Seminary. 

CALIFORNIA USAGE 

Some years ago I sent a questionable to all the active 
pastors in southern California, at that time fifty-two in num- 
ber, enclosing the following questions : 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 319 

" ( 1 ) What creedal or confessional test does your church 
require of applicants for membership ? 

" (2) What in your opinion should be the required test?" 

Replies were received from every one of the fifty-two 
pastors — a sufficiently notable result. Four of these were so 
general as to be inconclusive; but more than nine-tenths of 
the active pastors of the association are represented in the 
following conclusions: 

( 1 ) As to the usage at that time prevailing. Out of forty- 
four churches seven used one of the three forms found in the 
Council Manual or the Pilgrim Pastor 's Manual ; eight more 
used one of the two forms found in the Handbook of the Con- 
gregational Churches of California (one of these the same as 
above); five used only the Apostles' Creed; four examined 
candidates in the creed of 1883 ; one used a creed drawn up 
by Doctor Gunsaulus, one that in Roy's Manual, one that in 
Oberlin Manual, one that of the churches of Northern Cali- 
fornia, and one that was prepared by the A. B. C. F. M. ; while 
the largest number, fifteen, used simple statements of faith 
peculiar to themselves, non-creedal in nature, and most often 
drawn up by the pastor of the church. 

Surely this is confusing enough, and yet it would seem as 
though the pastors of the state were reasonably unanimous in 
requiring some form of distinct and formal creed statement 
from all applicants for membership, because the majority of 
the forms used require at least two creedal statements: (1) 
that of the Apostles' Creed and (2) the general, and, to many, 
extremely perplexing blanket statement that "they accept, 
according to the measure of their understanding of it, the 
system of Christian truth held by the churches of our faith 
and order, and by this church, etc. ' ' 

But if this is the conclusion that we are tempted to draw 
from these statistics — that a creedal confession should be re- 
quired — further inquiry shows it to be quite erroneous. For 



320 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

there appears, on further examination, a surprising consensus 
of opinion to the exactly opposite effect. 

Of the forty-eight men who were heard from decisively, 
not one expressed himself in favor of what might be called a 
detailed creed as a requirement for church membership. Four 
pastors expressed their satisfaction with the Apostles' Creed, 
or with the Confession in the manual of which that creed forms 
a part. And one, using the Apostles' Creed, expressed a pref- 
erence for requiring ' ' a firm belief in those doctrines which all 
evangelical churches believe in common." But every one of 
the remaining ninety per cent has either discarded already 
any formal creed statement, as a requirement upon applicants, 
or expresses his preference for a different and simpler form of 
admission from that which his church is now using. There 
are four whose positions in the matter is perhaps a mediating 
one ; they would require acceptance of ' ■ the great fundamental 
principles of Christianity," or ''the essential vital verities of 
the gospel, upon which all Christians practically unite." This 
would seem to be in substantial agreement with the majority ; 
but in any case the remaining nearly eighty-five per cent stand 
unqualifiedly for discipleship of Jesus as the only test of mem- 
bership. Of course, much is comprehended in that, of neces- 
sity — belief in God, in the Bible, in Christian fellowship ; re- 
pentance, faith, love — but the only requirement is of that 
which involves them all, the desire to follow after Jesus. 

Here are a number of typical replies from those who were 
not satisfied with the usage of their church. The test should 
be in their judgment : 

1. An avowal of hearty discipleship to Jesus, and a 
pledge of cooperation in the work of the church. 

2. Vital piety. 

3. A desire to confess Christ and a purpose to follow 
Him. 

4. Christian character : the Bible as the only creed, and 
rule of faith and practice. 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 321 

5. Repentance of sin, acceptance of Christ as Saviour, 
and devotion to the service of Christ. 

6. A promise of loyalty to Christ, as the candidate under- 
stands Christ. 

7. Simple acceptance of Jesus as Saviour and Lord, and 
a stated purpose to lead the Christian life. 

8. The purpose to follow Jesus. 

9. A desire to lead a Christ life. 

10. A simple declaration of one's purpose to live a Chris- 
tian life. 

11. No more than the Master required when He received 
men into His fellowship. 

Nineteen more could be given which would be only the 
repetition in varying forms of the above. 

Almost all of the above ministers were using forms of 
admission requiring creedal subscription not in accord with 
their distinctly expressed preference. 

We come now to the smaller number who had already 
brought their church practice into harmony with their own 
convictions, and who had a simple non-creedal confession, 
covering, as a rule, the three points of repentance, disciple- 
ship and fellowship. 

I give, as typical, only three of these, for the sake of 
brevity : 

1 ' I believe in God and in Jesus Christ, the supreme reve- 
lation of His life and love, and in the Spirit of Christ in the 
hearts of men. For worship, for instruction, for fellowship in 
service, I unite with this church and with all who share the 
Christian faith, and I will strive for the upbuilding of God's 
Kingdom in my own heart and life, and in the hearts and 
lives of others." 

"You promise that you will take the Lord to be your 
God and Jesus your Saviour, and that you will order your 
lives in accordance with the teachings of the Scriptures. " 



322 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

' ' You do now confess to a living and loving relation with 
your Saviour, and you desire, guided by His Holy Spirit, to 
live henceforth as His disciple in the fellowship and service 
of His church." 

The conclusion from all the above showing is obvious, and 
of great importance. It is this : That our ministers are by no 
means in a state of confused indecision or hopeless disagree- 
ment as to requirements upon new members, as the actual 
practice of our churches would seem to indicate. On the 
contrary, the ministers, with few exceptions, are agreed as to 
what our policy ought to be, viz. : That the church should lay 
no creedal test upon incoming members other than that which 
is involved in avowed discipleship of Jesus. 

My own church for many years has required no other 
test for membership than loyalty to Jesus Christ. 

Rev. Henry Kingman. 
Claremont, Cal. 

evidence of faith should be produced 

I should not consider full acceptance of a creedal state- 
ment indispensable to church membership. Yet, on the other 
hand, I should not advocate the reception of any person who 
dissented, unless there was clear evidence of a genuine faith 
and purpose in some way evidenced and expressed. 

J. Percival Huget. 

First Church, Detroit, Mich. 

CONFESS THE COMMON FAITH 

The Central Church at Galesburg, 111., has a confession 
of faith of thirteen articles. Originally there were twelve. 
Long before the present pastorate the thirteenth was added, 
as follows: 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 323 

"This creed is intended as our expression of the funda- 
mental teaching of the Biblical revelation, and not as a test of 
qualification for church membership." 

I am in thorough sympathy with this usage. This church 
would accept, and I would welcome, any Christian person, 
provided his dissent was not openly controversial; if it were, 
I should think he might better find another church. 

Rev. Charles E. McKinley. 

Pastor Central Church, Galesburg, 111. 

NO UNIVERSAL RULE POSSIBLE 

In this church members assent to both creed and covenant, 
but a committee has been appointed to prepare a new form for 
admission of members, and this may be changed. No universal 
rule can be made as to whether a member should be received 
who dissents from the creed. It depends on the mental and 
spiritual attitude of the applicant. 

Rev. Edward M. Notes, D. D. 

Newton Center, Mass. 

EVIDENCE OF A CHRISTIAN LIFE 

When I was pastor of a church, candidates received into 
the church simply assented to the covenant, and we admitted 
any who gave evidence of a Christian purpose. 

Prof. William H. Ryder, D. D. 

Andover Theological Seminary. 

ASSENT TO COVENANT 

In Plymouth Church, Des Moines, we have a church cove- 
nant and creed. The creed of the church is the Kansas City 
Declaration of 1913. There is no subscription to this on the 
part of those who come into membership in the church. The 



324 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

church covenant is taken by all. My own judgment is in favor 
of this. It works satisfactorily with us. 

Rev. J. Edward Kirbye, D. D. 
Pastor Plymouth Church, Des Moines, Iowa. 

ADMIT ALL W r HO LOVE CHRIST 

In no church that I have served have I ever asked the 
people to assent to the creed, but only to the covenant. Our 
church has a brief creed, but we ask the people only to assent 
to the covenant of the church. This creed and form of ad- 
mission was revised about six years ago, and was so drawn 
that it would admit all who love Jesus Christ. I do not think 
that any church should refuse to admit to its fellowship any 
person who gives credible evidence of conversion. Men are 
saved not by assenting or dissenting to creeds, but by faith in 
the Lord Jesus Christ, and they give proof of their Christian 
faith by love and loyalty in the service of the Master. 

Rev. Samuel H. Woodrow, D. D. 

Pilgrim Congregational Church, St. Louis, Mo. 

THE COVENANT THE BOND OF UNION 

The primary bond of unity in a church should be distinct- 
ly a covenant rather than a creed, except as certain general 
fundamental propositions are involved in the very nature of 
a covenant. Pastors or laymen should hold the creed in this 
secondary position, and wide latitude in freedom of thought 
should be allowed, provided this latitude is held in the spirit 
of brotherliness. 

Pres. James A. Blaisdel. 

Pomona College, California. 



A SYMPOSIUM ON CHURCH MEMBERSHIP 325 

NECESSITY OF GREAT CONVICTIONS 

In the "Form for the Reception of Members" recently 
adopted by the First Church in Berkeley, we have undertaken 
to make the creedal element so simple and fundamental that 
all people who love the truth and desire goodness and who 
recognize that both truth and goodness are best understood 
through Jesus could give their hearty and unhesitating assent. 

It seems to us essential that church membership should 
rest upon the recognition and acceptance of certain great con- 
victions, but that those convictions should be stated in terms 
that do not admit of controversy. That is to say, the creedal 
element should never be simply a statement of historic fact, 
for example, concerning the birth, death or resurrection of 
Jesus, or an interpretation of such facts, but it should be a 
statement concerning the great moral, spiritual and social 
realities, in the light of which every man who lives to any 
purpose must live, and it should be made in terms at once so 
universal and so particular that they compel the assent of 
every thoughtful man who believes in the faith of Jesus and 
present a challenge to every man to determine the spirit of 
his inner life in the light of them. I cannot quite imagine 
why any man who does not see these realities of the moral 
and spiritual life should desire church membership, nor can I 
see how he would be likely to help through the church to es- 
tablish the Kingdom of God. 

Rev. Raymond C. Brooks. 

Pasto^ First Congregational Church, Berkeley, Cal. 



VII. THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 

The question whether a layman should be received into 
the membership of a church, though finding himself not to 
be in accord with some parts of the church creed, is not iden- 
tical with the question whether a minister may accept a call 
to a church whose confession of faith he does not accept; or 
whether he may in good conscience hold to his pastorate after 
finding himself out of sympathy with some part of its author- 
ized teaching. I have discussed these and related questions 
in their appropriate places in this volume, but it has seemed 
to me well to obtain also the judgment of a number of pastors 
in our leading churches and teachers in our colleges and theo- 
logical seminaries. I give these as they have come to me, as- 
sured that the readers of this volume will find this symposium 
both interesting and profitable. 

MINISTER SHOULD BE SPIRITUAL LEADER 

A minister whose views are not in harmony with the 
creeds of his church, but who is in general sympathy with 
its spirit, should not be required, either to accomodate his 
teachings to the creed or to resign his pastorate. He should 
remain and lead on gently but surely, giving his people the 
Bible view of truth. His duty as the leader in spiritual things 1 
requires him to do this and not to run away. 

Rev. James R. Smith. 
People's Church, St. Paul, Minn. 



326 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 327 

CREED AND HIGHER STANDARDS 

A minister should be required to preach the creed only 
so far as the creed itself conforms to the higher standards of 
the New Testament. 

Rev. Henry F. Milligan. 

First Church, Dubuque, la. 

A minister who no longer can accept the creed of his 
church, but believes in its spirit and work, should stay at his 
post. If he is a true teacher the church will catch up with him. 
The majority of the church is generally far ahead of the creed. 
Creeds are static, but Christians grow. All do not grow at 
the same rate, so it is always difficult for a creed to keep up 
with the Christian. If there is enough common ground be- 
tween a minister and his church to give him room to walk 
about, he should stay, and by faithful service and educative 
preaching he will establish common ground between him and 
the church. If, however, there is a fundamental divergence in 
the spirit and content of faith, that is another matter. 

Prof. Daniel Evans. 

Andover Theological Seminary. 

PASTOR SHOULD BE IN SYMPATHY WITH CHURCH DOCTRINE 

A pastor should not assume the pastoral office unless he 
finds himself so far in accord with the doctrinal positions of 
the church that he can labor whole-heartedly and conscien- 
tiously for its upbuilding. He may heartily agree with the 
Creed of the church and yet feel that some simpler and broad- 
er statement of the faith would be preferable, and work, with 
wisdom, to the end that a change may be made. But he has 
no right to become pastor of a church if he is not in sympathy 
with its teachings, and thus use the prestige of his position to 



328 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

sever the church from its doctrinal foundations. Such a course 
is ecclesiastical piracy. 

One who becomes a minister of a church has a more sol- 
emn obligation to be loyal to its teaching than one on whom 
rests no burden of leadership. He owes a debt to the tradi- 
tional faith of his own church and to the denomination which 
he serves. He has no right to assume that upon him devolves 
the responsibility, — of the cost of intellectual honesty in seem- 
ing (at the start) to represent what in reality he does not 
represent — of moving his church or his denomination over 
from one position to another which may be of quite a differ- 
ent nature. If it concerns shades of thought, that is one thing. 
If it concerns fundamental vital differences, that is quite a 
different thing. In the latter case he should resign and go 
elsewhere, or form a new group of those favorable to his 
thought. 

Prof. Henry H. Walker. 

Chicago Theological Seminary. 

MINISTER SHOULD UPHOLD ESSENTIAL CHRISTIAN FAITH 

If a minister is out of sympathy with the general teaching 
and belief of the church, either he should withdraw from it 
or the church should alter its statement of faith. I do not 
believe in having a separate creed for each local church. It 
is enough for both church and minister to signify the accept- 
ance of the doctrines and practices of the apostolic, primitive 
and Congregational churches substantially as they are set 
forth in the ancient creeds of Christendom. 

Rev. Raymond Calkins, D. D. 

First Church, Cambridge, Mass. 

KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT 

A minister who accepts a pastorate which requires him in 
specific terms to believe and teach its creed must keep his 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 329 

contract or give up his charge. But a wise man will be slow 
to bind himself by such a contract. A wise church will be 
slow to choose a minister who is willing to put such a barrier 
to his and their progress in the knowledge of God, and to his 
guidance into all the truth which our Lord promised to those 
who would receive his Spirit. 

Usually a minister who seeks such knowledge, in loyalty 
to the historic faith of our Churches, and makes it his vocation 
to lead his people into the larger fellowship with all true dis- 
ciples of Christ, will find the intelligent members of his church 
co-operating with him toward that end. He will not be impa- 
tient or controversial or overconfident in his own opinions. He 
will learn from them while he teaches them. He will encour- 
age the free expression of the views of his people, and will 
especially respect convictions which are the fruit of experience. 
In most Christian churches such a pastor will be able to 
avoid bitterness arising from differing views, ' ' giving diligence 
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ' ' He and 
his people will work together to ' ' attain unto the unity of the 
faith, and of the knowledge of God, unto a full grown man, 
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. ' ' 

Rev. A. E. Dunning, D. D. 
Former Editor of The Congregationalist. 

EXPECT MORE FROM MINISTER THAN MEMBER 

We have the right to expect something more from the 
minister than from the lay member of the church. As an 
appointed and authorized teacher he should stand in line with 
the general features of the creed of his church. He cannot be 
blankly and baldly out of sympathy with such creed. Never- 
theless he must preserve his own independence of thought. In 
essentials he cannot accommodate his preaching to a creed he 
does not believe. If he thus accommodates, and holds truth in 
reserve, he becomes a hypocrite and loses his own self respect. 



330 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

If he thus accommodates, and his people know it, he loses their 
respect and confidence and with these his influence. The duty 
of the minister is to tell the truth that he and others may live 
by it. Rev. Naboth Osborne. 

Burlington, Iowa. 



There are places where the only rule about clothing is that 
it shall be sufficient for decency. They are places of fruitful 
or at least eager activity. I should not wish to admit a can- 
didate who had not creed enough to confess belief that Jesus 
Christ is his Lord and Saviour. But I should never be anxious 
to compel conformity even as to important doctrines. When 
Jesus said " Follow me," he set forth the only test we have 
any right to apply. The pastor and the creed of his local 
church ought to get together. Sometimes that may happen by 
revising the creed ; sometimes by convincing the pastor. Usu- 
ally, however, the mediating point is the church, to whom, 
before a pastorate begins, the minister should present his 
criticisms of their creed, and ask for their judgment upon 
his fitness for the office. If convictions change during a pas- 
torate, the man should follow something of the same method. 
It is dangerous, and actually will be decided on personal rather 
than theological grounds, so that a man should be very sure of 
his convictions before making such a statement. If the point 
of difference be not too vital, discreet silence will often prevent 
the discord from sounding too loud. 

As a matter of fact, it is the business of the minister to 
preach religion and to make as little as possible of theological 
formulas. He will not preach religion effectively without a 
very vigorous theology, but he will be very far from any dis- 
position to require detailed acceptance of his theology by his 
people, or to yield such acceptance to theirs. 

Rev. John Luther Kilbon. 

Springfield, Mass. 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 331 

LIBERTY OF INTERPRETATIONS 

The Pastor should be given liberty of interpretation and 
constructive thinking. He should, however, be in substantial 
sympathy with the fundamentals 1 of the Creed of the church 
which he serves. 

A minister who finds his views not in harmony with the 
Creed of his church in all its particulars, but who counts him- 
self loyal to its spirit and one with it in the great and central 
fundamentals can still honorably serve the church. But if he 
is not in substantial agreement, honor would compel him to 
relinquish the work . 

Rev. Edward D. Gaylord. 

Pilgrim Church, Dorchester, Mass. 

MINISTER MUST BE FREE 

A minister must be free. And his message must be one 
he genuinely and personally believes. At the same time a 
minister who is clearly at variance with the creed of his church 
should respect the rights of the church. If the conflict is real 
and not capable of compromise without sacrifice of principle 
on either side, the minister should seek another field. 

If genuinely in sympathy with the spirit and content of 
the statement of his church he should be able to serve faith- 
fully with emphasis upon the positive element rather than the 
magnifying of the points of disagreement. If his leadership 
is really capable and his own belief more in accord with truth 
than the creed of his church he should be able with patience to 
lead the church into a larger liberty. 

Rev. J. Percival Huget. 

First Church, Detroit, Mich. 

SINCERE EXPRESSIONS OF HIS OWN EXPERIENCE 

I have profound respect for the attempts which Christian 
people have made in other ages to set forth in definite form 
their convictions and hopes. I respect any belief which has 



332 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

ever gotten hold of human hearts in such a way as to inspire 
its possessor to a better life. On the other hand, our age, like 
every other, has the right to think for itself and to describe 
its experiences in terms of its own life and thought. I believe 
that our understanding of truth is progressive and that there- 
fore the formulas which attempt to set forth our beliefs need 
constant revision to make them adequate as expressions of ever 
increasing insight. 

I do not believe that the interests of truth are served by 
surrounding any man with social expectations which persuade 
him to make professions which are not sincere expressions of 
his own experience. I believe the fact of prime importance to 
be the experience of love and loyalty to Jesus, leading to a 
discovery and understanding of the moral and spiritual qual- 
ities of the universe and reculting in the definite commitment 
of one 's life to their service. Anyone who has been brought in 
this way into vital relationships with God, I believe to be a 
member of his spiritual kingdom. I believe he is entitled to 
such forms of expressing his experience as may seem to him 
most adequate and sincere. 

So far from believing that freedom of this sort would 
weaken the effectiveness of Christianity, I am convinced that 
it is the only basis on which people of differing temperaments 
and training can ever be brought together into a united Chris- 
tian church. Donald J. Cowling. 

Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota. 

CHURCH SHOULD NOT FETTER ITS MINISTER 

A progressive church will not fetter its minister in his 
search after truth by insisting that he work and preach within 
the limits of a hard and fast statement of faith. Creeds are 
stationary and fixed. Truth is ever being revealed. An in- 
telligent people desires the latest truth as it breaks forth from 
God's holy word. They expect that their minister will be a 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 333 

true educator, keeping them abreast of the times, changes in 
thought, and increasing knowledge of the Bible. Truth is 
larger than all statements of it. No man or church can say, 
"Lo, I have it all. Here it is, summed up and stated for all 
time and peoples in this creed. ' ' 

If a church chooses to be bound by a statement of faith 
probably made in, by and for another age, it might be neces- 
sary for a minister to leave such a church. He would probably 
wish to. I think, however, that a truly consecrated minister 
need not be restricted in honest preaching by the creed of his 
church, but can preach the truth as he sees it. He can do this 
and be loyal to the spirit of his church and people, and in 
thorough harmony with both. He will yield to others the 
same right he demands for himself, the right to accept truth 
as it is individually seen. He will not be dogmatic or unchar- 
itable in his presentations. A people who are busy bringing 
people to Christ will not bother over fine distinctions. For them 
Christ Himself will be the ultimate and final creed — ' ' the way, 
the truth and the life." 

I have never preached on creeds. I purposely avoid 
technical and theological terms. The use of old terminologies 
and doctrinal positions always lines people up and excites op- 
position. Every minister preaches to the conservative and 
liberal mind. He cannot expect old people to entirely abandon 
ways of thinking in which they were trained and have been 
brought up. Such people cannot ask of their minister that he 
preach exactly as the minister did fifty years ago. The liberal 
mind cannot be illiberal by acting uncharitably toward the 
conservative thinker. The great facts underlying all state- 
ments of truth are the important thing. These can be 
preached to all men when they are set forth in a winning way 
and with a constructive purpose. 

Rev. Malcom Dana. 

Ottumwa, Iowa. 



334 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

NO CHURCH SHOULD REQUIRE SUBSCRIPTION 

No Congregational church should permit itself to ask 
either its minister or its members to assent to any other kind 
of a creed. To substitute a set of propositions about Christ, 
about the manner of his coming into the world or the manner 
of his exit from the world or the way in which he atones for 
the sins of men, for the faith of Jesus in the wisdom and love 
and power of God, is to be false to our Congregational inheri- 
tance and to deny a fundamental article of the Congregational 
and Christian creed, viz., "I believe in freedom of thought.' ' 
"The Spirit of truth will guide you." Every Congregational 
minister has the right to assume that the church expects him 
to dwell as patiently and persistently and lovingly as he knows 
how in the presence of all the facts that seem important to 
him and to follow the gleam they afford unhesitatingly and 
without hindrance from the church. If, at any time, any min- 
ister finds that he no longer earnestly desires for himself and 
for his people the spirit of Christ; if he no longer seeks for 
himself and for them Christ's experience of God and His way 
of life then certainly he has no business to remain as leader 
of a Christian group. But so long as that is his sincere and 
intelligent purpose to put any barriers in his way in the way 
of creed subscriptions is to do a thing essentially unchristian. 

When we think through our delusions we will all think 
alike on fundamental matters. But one of the most persistent 
delusions is the superstitious fear of freedom, a fear that re- 
veals a fundamental lack of faith in God, in Truth, and in the 
mind of man. 

To ask a minister to subscribe to any statement of faith, 
other in kind than that described above is unethical on the 
part of the church and for a minister to subscribe to a creed in 
which he does not and cannot believe for the sake of the ser- 
vice he can render is unethical and; brings the church at length 
into deserved contempt. Rev. Raymond C. Brooks. 

First Church, Berkeley, Calif. 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 335 

UNITY OF PURPOSE 

After a church and a pastor have had a reasonable time 
to understand each other, honesty and efficiency require that 
there should be a unity of purpose. If the pastor cannot per- 
suade the church to change its position with something near 
unanimity I should advise him to step aside. When I had 
been with the First Church of Denver a few months I sug- 
gested a change in the constitution but concluded the people 
were not quite ready for it. A few months later they made the 
change unanimously. I frankly told them that it might result 
disastrously but it does not seem to have had that effect in the 
six or seven years since. A church and its pastor should not 
work at cross purposes. 

Rev. Allan A. Tanner. 

Denver, Colo. 

PASTOR SHOULD LEAD 

I believe it to be the privilege and duty of the pastor to 
lead his people in matters of belief patiently and wisely, and 
that he should not be required to conform to any ironclad 
creedal statement which the church may have adopted. He 
is best informed in matters of belief and is best able to lead 
the people to a larger understanding and appreciation in mat- 
ters of Christian truth and doctrine. If a church has adopted 
a formal creedal statement upon which they expect the pastor 
to stand and in accordance with which they expect him to con- 
form his teachings, it probably would be desirable that there 
should be a definite understanding between the pastor and 
the church at the beginning of his pastorate. 

It is not easy to say what the minister should do who 
finds himself out of harmony with the creed of his church, but 
who still counts himself loyal to its spirit and the general con- 
tent of its faith. Much will depend upon circumstances. A 
wise pastor whose message is progressive and constructive will, 



336 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

I think, find a large part of the membership of the church 
sympathetic with him, even though he may depart somewhat 
from the recognized standards in loyalty to the truth as he 
is given to see it. When a minister finds himself out of har- 
mony with the creed of his church, with no hope of bringing 
the membership into harmony with his views, I think he had 
better seek another field of labor. 

Rev. J. R. Nichols. 
Pastor, Rogers Park, Chicago. 

GIVE BEST THINKING 

If a minister finds his own views not in harmony with the 
creed of his church he should first of all determine whether 
the creed represents the best and most forward looking think- 
ing of his denomination — if it does not, change the creed and 
get the church to fall into line with his denominational leaders 
— if it does and he finds himself at variance then he should 
change parishes and find one suited to him either within or 
without his denomination. It is detrimental to moral char- 
acter for a minister to placate all the time and not think con- 
scientiously. Congregationalism should cultivate sincerity of 
thought and it is the moral duty of the minister to give his 
best thinking to the people. 

Rev. J. Edward Kirbye. 

Plymouth Church, Des Moines, Iowa. 

CREEDAL PREACHING UNPROFITABLE 

Creedal preaching is not profitable and seldom interpre- 
tive of the Mind of the Master, who never defined any cardinal 
truth but always interpreted His Heavenly Father. 

Any minister loyal to the spirit and in sympathy with the 
general content of faith should remain in the church unless he 
is convinced that he should sever connection in the interest of 
honesty. 






THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 337 

I wish we could dispense with the creed and have only a 
covenant. Rev. Bastian Smits. 

Jackson, Mich. 

THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING 

Every Congregational minister should be allowed the lib- 
erty of prophesying. If he finds he has outgrown the creed, 
he can do what I personally have done in times past, actually 
refuse to recite the clauses of the creed to which he cannot 
consent and he can begin to leaven his church with a new 
point of view. The creedal problem is usually not one of 
specific details but of general attitude. He can preach a 
method, a disposition, in the knowledge that he can thus pre- 
pare the way for a revision of the existing creed. The state 
of Christendom being what it is I think we can afford to ignore 
theological details and center upon practical problems of 
moral purpose and method. 

Rev. W. L. Sperry. 

Central Church, Boston. 

minister must not divide church 

I do not think that a minister has a right to disrupt a 
church with his discordant views. The church has a history 
and a life that is sacred to it and which the minister ought to 
regard as sacred, and should only go so far as with tact of 
personality and of refined leadership he may be able to lead 
his people into new fields of thinking and into better concep- 
tions of Christianity. I realize as no one else can realize that 
the creed that fitted my thought when I entered the ministry 
would be an ill fitting cover for my present thought of religion 
and would limit greatly my power to lead people into the 
kingdom and so I have come to feel that a character and a 
spirit test best meets the requirements of church fellowship. 

Rev. John H. J. Rice. 

First Church, Emporia, Kan. 



338 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

MAJORITY CARE LITTLE FOR CREEDS 

In these transitional days when so many men in the pul- 
pits and pews are emerging from the older more literal, more 
rigid forms of belief to the simpler, more vital and more 
spiritual interpretation of Christianity, I believe it is the duty 
of all pastors to be progressive, constructive, educational, and 
above all things to get into the spirit of the more practical, 
scientific and reasonable religious teaching. Happy is the 
leader and people who can move out of the old into the new 
without jar or division. 

Happily creed subscription cuts little figure with the 
great majority of Congregational churches, not because they 
are indifferent to the teachings of the church, but because the 
covenant and the service of the church are the more vital in- 
terests. When these are harmonious with the Gospel, the creed 
will not. be far away from it. 

Rev. Archibald Haddon. 

First Church, Muskegon, Mich. 

live up to it or change it 

If the constitution of a church requires the acceptance of 
the creed it should live up to this constitution or change it. 
I believe in retaining the ancient creed of a local church "as 
a testimony rather than a test," or better making specific 
reference to the Kansas City declaration as the general posi- 
tion of the Congregational church. The Second Church, Ober- 
lin, makes such a reference in its Manual and then makes the 
further statement in effect ' ' being a community church as well 
as a Congregational church we receive into our fellowship 
Christians of all shades of belief." This church recently re- 
ceived Unitarians into their fellowship. There was no objec- 
tion, at least not expressed in the public vote. I feel, however, 
that great care should be exercised in the average Congrega- 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 339 

tional church to discover that the underlying: Christian pur- 
pose of the new member coming from some other community 
should be definitely determined just as carefully in the case of 
individuals joining on confession of faith. 

A pastor should not accept the pastorate of any church 
whose creed he is out of harmony with. If the church is on 
a creedal basis instead of the covenant basis and a pastor can- 
not accept the creed he cannot honestly become a member of 
the church, much less its pastor. If after honestly accepting 
the creed as a new member he finds his views later becoming 
out of harmony with the creed he would be perfectly honest in 
preaching his own beliefs even though in discord with the 
creedal statements of the church. No man can honestly prom- 
ise to believe in a creed in perpetuity. Creedal acceptance 
can be only a present statement. However, a minister who 
honestly preaches his developing views which happen to be 
contrary to the creed of his church should frankly acknowl- 
edge this discrepancy. Personally I should wish to have the 
church's basis changed to the covenant basis if possible under 
these circumstances. 

If a minister finds himself out of harmony with the creed 
of his church and the church refuses to change its creed at his 
suggestion I do not think it is honest for him to remain pastor 
of that church even though he ' ' still counts himself loyal to its 
spirit and in sympathy with the general content of its faith. ' ' 
I believe creedal acceptance should be total or nothing like a 
business contract. The all too prevalent habit of accepting a 
creed "for substance of doctrine" has always seemed to me a 
theological vice and actually dishonest. This is mainly my 
reason for not valuing creedal tests. 

Prof. G. W. Fiske. 

Oberlin Theological Seminary. 

LOYAL TO HIS OWN CONVICTIONS 

As regards the ministerial acceptance of the local creed, it 
seems to me that a minister should be loyal to his own convic- 



340 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

tions at any cost, and will usually find it possible to bring a 
church to a revision of its creed in harmony with his own 
principles. Rev. Henry K. Booth. 

Long* Beach, California. 

IF HE ACCEPTS CALL, LET HTM ACCEPT THE CREED 

I cannot get away from the feeling that a pastor has no 
right to accept the pastorate of a church on the basis of a 
creed with which he cannot agree and to which he cannot 
conform in his general teaching. We would hardly expect 
a business man to accept a position as traveling salesman for 
the sale of goods that he could not heartily commend, or to 
accept a political appointment on a commission to accomplish 
a certain object of which he did not approve. The analogy 
to me seems perfectly fair between the two cases above and 
that of a pastor called to a church to uphold and promote the 
interests of that church on the basis of a creed. 

James L. Barton. 

Secretary of the American Board. 

ACADEMIC FREEDOM IS HERE FOR GOOD 

It would be a fearful thing for the church, and more 
fearful for the minister that he should be compelled to teach 
under pressure what he did not believe. I am under the im- 
pression that that battle has been fought through. Academic 
freedom and pulpit freedom are with us for good. 

A judicious pastor might lead his church in time to a 
more wholesome view of truth, and then help them to adopt 
better symbols for their faith. He should not allow the church 
to force him to teach other than the truth that God has given 
him, nor should he indulge in mock heroics in using his liberty 
in the pulpit to give vent to what may be only his own eccen- 
tric mis-statements. Rev. Augustine Jones. 

First Church, Kalamazoo, Mich. 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 341 

SHOULD PREACH WHAT HE BELIEVES 

A pastor should preach what he believes to be the truth, 
whether it agrees with the creed or not. At the same time he 
should respect the views of others and the doctrinal attitude 
of the church and the denomination to which he belongs. This 
does not require the suppression of the truth, but only courtesy 
and care and Christian charity. 

A minister has a right and duty to remain in the church 
to which he belongs, even when the creed of that church does 
not best express his own convictions, stating frankly, on 
proper occasions, his own views, and ready to withdraw from 
the church when he finds that he is a stumbling-block to others, 
or is convinced that he himself can live a freer life or render 
a better service elsewhere. 

Prof. William H. Ryder. 

Andover Theological Seminary. 

SHOULD WITHDRAW RATHER THAN DIVIDE A CHURCH 

After having given such dissent a reasonable chance for 
hearing in the church, the pastor, having given his promise 
to conserve the unity and common interest of the church, 
should probably withdraw rather than continue a vexed and 
irritated situation. This should not be done hastily but only 
after fraternal effort to represent himself to his brethren. 
Having failed in this, it is likely that he can leave the develop- 
ment of Christian belief to those who come after him, and he 
may indeed leave his pastorate in such a noble way as to win 
out in the very thing in which he has previously failed. 

Pres. James A. Blaisdell. 

Pomona College. 

freedom to study and speak 

A pastor should certainly be left free to study and think 
and speak his growing mind in the fear of God alone. But 



342 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

he may conceivably diverge so far from his people as to pro- 
duce a difficult and harmful tension such as would justify 
the church in ending the strain. Then the pastor should not 
cling to his place on the score of freedom and of essential 
loyalty to the spirit of his church. In many such cases of 
divergent holdings, the pastor may well stay and considerately 
lead out into ampler pastures. In other cases his real duty 
lies elsewhere and he may not properly impose his thinking 
on unsympathetic minds and uncomfortable co-worker®. I 
never have had the slightest sympathy with a minister who 
insisted on his right to club and drag into the better path. 

President C. S. Nash. 
Pacific School of Religion. 

LITTLE ATTENTION TO CREEDS 

I do not know whether a pastor should be required to 
accomodate his teaching to the creed of the local church or not. 
I only know that personally I have never paid much, if any, 
attention to the creeds of the churches to which I have min- 
istered, and have never endeavored to revise any of them. I 
endeavor to preach a full and adequate gospel and to seek for 
the salvation of boys and girls, men and women, and have 
not worried about the particular confession of faith. 

In no church have I ever asked the people to assent to the 
creed, but only to the covenant. 

My opinion is that most churches 1 do not know very much 
about their own particular creed, with the exception of a 
possible few who imagine themselves to be defenders of the 
faith, and who usually succeed in making themselves obnox- 
ious to all real servants of Jesus. 

When people, young or old, come before our Standing 
Committee seeking admission to the church on confession of 
faith, there is just one test question that we always apply — 
"Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ, and is it your purpose 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 343 

to serve him?" That I believe, is the only New Testament 
test, and is the only test that is worth while. The Thirty- 
Nine Articles and Westminister Confessions have little to do 
with the gospel as Jesus preached it and as it was accepted by 
the early disciples. 

In a little catechism that I wrote and teach in my Pas- 
tor's Training Classes, I answer the question thus: 

1. What are the conditions of admission to the church? 
Ans. a. Repentance, or the renouncing and forsaking 

of sin. 

b. Faith, or the choice of God as the supreme object of 
our love and service. 

c. A life that is being) transformed into the likeness of 
Christ by the performance of Christian duties. 

2. Are all who belong to the church perfect? 

Ans. No. It is composed of those who desire to be per- 
fect through the help which God gives them. 

3. How old should one be before uniting with the church ? 
Ans. Old enough to know the difference between right 

and wrong, and to have a desire and purpose to do the right. 

From the above you will get some idea of what my 
thoughts are concerning creeds and their value. 

I am willing that you should make any use of the above 
statements that you think best. 

Rev. S. H. Woodrow, D. D. 

Pilgrim Church, St. Louis, Mo. 

MINUTE CONFORMITY UNREASONABLE 

With regard to the relation of the pastor to the creed 
of the Church he is serving, it is my conviction that minute 
conformity to the creed is not a reasonable requirement. There 
are probably at least as many creeds in existence as there are 
genuine thinkers. Every one should be encouraged to do his 
own personal thinking upon the questions of Theology. It is 



344 CONGREGATIONAL, CREEDS AND COVENANTS 

of distinct value to the Church to have a creed of moderate 
length, stated in as simple terms as possible, which may well 
be read publicly, preferably on Communion Sundays, in 
order to accustom the Church to its own creedal relationships ; 
but it is not to be supposed that a creed necessarily expresses 
the permanent and exact position of either the pastor or the 
people. 

If the minister finds his views out of harmony with the 
creed of the Church, but is loyal to its spirit, there ought to 
be, and usually will be, no serious difficulties encountered. 
Theological gymnastics or polemics are not as much in evidence 
as formerly. A crusade against the creed of one 's own Church 
would be evidently an unbecoming proceeding. Attacks should 
be made from the outside. Most ministers find themselves 
better occupied in constructive endeavors to win men to the 
service of Christ and to the cause of righteousness, rather 
than to be aiming their attacks at any creed. 

The difficulties regarding creed subscription are largely 
temperamental rather than theological. A spirit of conceit 
or of superior wisdom, whether on the part of the pastor or 
the members of the Church, must lead to unfortunate compli- 
cations, but these complications can easily be reduced to a 
minimum if either party will cultivate a sympathetic and 
serene temper. 

Pres. Edward D. Eaton. 

Beloit, College, Beloit, Wis. 

TRUE TO HIS OWN CONVICTIONS 

In many cases 90 per cent of the congregation do not 
accept the creed as it stands. The pastor must be true to his 
own convictions of truth, cut where they will. He must be 
kind, considerate and above all things fair. In time he may 
well hope to remodel the creed until it come into line with 
modern views. Creeds and Covenants deal with metaphysical 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 345 

and ethical questions. Now in neither of these realms can we 
do more than make a few simple statements. Still some kind 
of statement should be made to express the end and ideal of 
faith. But great liberty must be allowed and much charity 
extended lest in our attempt to unite and inspire men, we 
divide and antagonize them. 

Rev. Robert E. Brown. 
Second Church, Waterbury, Conn. 

REASONABLE ELASTICITY 

I think the inconsistency of a pastor being at variance 
with the creed of his church would be such that he ought not 
to continue as the pastor, certainly not if his holding of the 
position is a tacit implication of his assent. 

Concerning the duty of a minister who finds his views 
not to be in harmony with the creed of his church, but still 
counts himself loyal to its support and in sympathy with the 
general content of its faith, I think a reasonable elasticity 
should be permitted, on the principle that the letter killeth 
and the spirit maketh alive. 

Rev. H. P. Dewey, D. D. 

Plymouth Church, Minneapolis, Minn. 

LIBERALITY AND LOYALTY 

A pastor should have large liberty, so far as details of 

creed are concerned, so long as he manifests a spirit that is 
clearly loyal to the fundamental teachings of Christ. 

Pres. Henry C. King. 
Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio. 

HAVE SMALL FAITH IN LARGE CREED 

The pastor should be in accord with the creed of his 
church, or, if he does not believe in it, he should try to change 
it, or go somewhere else. I have come to attach small faith 



346 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND METHODS 

to a large creed. "We receive disciples into the church on 
confession of their belief in Jesus as their redeemer and 
friend, and their promise to try to follow Him. I would, per- 
haps change the phraseology of our covenant some, but have 
not thought out any thing different. If I did any thing, I 
would simply make it simpler, without removing the funda- 
mentals. 

Kev. Charles M. Sheldon, D. D. 
Central Congregational Church, Topeka, Kan. 

IGNORE MINOR POINTS 

Both pastor and members may well ignore minor theo- 
logical points upon which pastor and creed do not agree, but 
if he differs radically and fundamentally from the essential 
points of a church creed he ought in fairness to himself and 
them to seek another church connection. At any event every 
honest man is bound to teach only that which he believes. 

Pres. H. K. Warren. 

Yankton College, Yankton, S. D. 



ABSOLUTE AGREEMENT SELDOM POSSIBLE 

A pastor should be able to accept heartily the standards 
of the church he serves, but absolute agreement in all details 
is seldom possible. It is the duty of the pastor to keep the 
unity of the spirit in the bonds of peace, give himself to the 
practical work of his ministry, and trust experience to bring 
about all the harmony of conviction that is necessary. Accord- 
ing to circumstances, his duty may vary all the way from 
seeking new light for himself, to an attempt to lead the church 
to revise or change its creed. A Congregational minister has 
no more right to force his own individual opinions upon the 
church as a whole than any other brother. If there is a hope- 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 347 

less difference of opinion, it is his duty to go elsewhere and 
leave the chnrch in peace. 

Charles B. McKinley. 
Central Congregational Church, Galesburg, 111. 

WIDE LIBERTY DESIRABLE 

No creeds in the Congregational Church have ever been 
set forth for ministers as tests of conformity. They have rather 
been presented as expressions of what is generally believed 
among us. They should never be pressed as tools of theologi- 
cal inquisition. A minister who finds his views not in harmony 
with the creed of his church has the alternatives upon him of 
trying to show that his view of truth is more comprehensive 
than that which is recorded in the creed. This is his bounden 
duty, and yet common sense must instruct him as to whether he 
should press his views or give the right of way to the more 
general belief. 

Personally, I feel that our Congregational body should 
stand for the widest liberty of thought in relation to the 
fundamentals of religion. I believe it is entirely practicable 
in our day to have a form of confession of faith which is 
entirely free from theological implication of any controversal 
order. 

Eev. Charles Francis Carter. 

Immanuel Congregational Church, Hartford, Conn. 

every man has a creed 

A minister, to be happy, would have to be in general 
accord with the fundamental beliefs of his church and de- 
nomination. I do not think he should be required to accept 
the creed of a given church. 

A man who finds himself loyal to the spirit of the creed 
and in sympathy with the general content of the faith of his 



348 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND METHODS 

church should not worry too much about subtle distinctions, 
but put himself into the work of the church with earnestness 
and enthusiasm. 

The question of creed troubles me, personally, very little. 
I am too busy. I repeat with reverence the ancient creeds, 
as venerable symbols which have come down to us from the 
history of the past. When I go into a cathedral, I do not throw 
stones through the windows, as my Puritan ancestors did. I 
am not in sympathy with the creed of the builders nor of the 
present occupants of those cathedrals, but I reverence with 
all my soul the ancient and splendid symbol. I do not tear 
up the ancient creeds because I would not phrase my belief 
in the same way. 

Every man must have a creed, but if it is to be of very 
much value it must not be a belief taken over from the people 
of some former generation. What we need in the church to-day 
is not a revival of pettifogging discussion about the minutiae 
of theological distinctions, but a determination to build upon 
this earth the Kingdom of God, to set up here the shining 
City of God. 

Kev. Newton M. Hall, D. D. 

North Church, Springfield, Mass. 

ACCEPT THE CREED OR GET A BETTER ONE 

If a minister finds himself out of harmony with the creed 
of his church but loyal to its spirit, he should come to a definite 
understanding with his church about his own relation to its 
creed. 

He should either be definitely relieved of the responsibi- 
lity of appearing to sanction it when he does not, or he should 
get it abolished and replaced by a better creed or he should 
find a church which has a creed which he can accept. 

Rev. Carl S. Patton, D. D. 



Columbus, Ohio. 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 349 

CHURCH MUST NOT CONSTRAIN MINISTER 

A church may determine what theology it may or may 
not hear, but it has no right to constrain its pastor in his 
preaching. It should in deed urge him, and be eager to attend, 
to such message as he presents of the truth of which he is 
passionately convinced. It is to be remembered that the min- 
istry of a sincere man is invaluable, that progress comes only 
through seeing things from a new view point. A limited 
ministry cannot be either powerful or progressive. The church 
has invariably lost when it has driven out or checked teaching 
not in harmony with its accepted creeds or opinions. Eccen- 
tricity, or foolishness need not be tolerated, but pointing in- 
tellectual and moral competency the ministry of a man at 
odds with the creeds should be received and even cherished. 
Loyalty to conviction is the chief asset of the pulpit. In any 
case there will be more points of contact than of difference to 
justify retention. Some of our most efficient ministers are 
men whose ideas are not exactly that of our creeds. 

In case of conscientious and sincere disagreement, where 
the minister feels he has a better view, he should wisely 
present it. Truth usually has a fashion of preparing its own 
way. Jesus did not sever himself from the worship or institu- 
tions of his day, but used these as a point of contact with his 
own teaching, and his example in this particular is invaluable. 

Rev. Andrew Ogilvie. 

First Church, Elkhart, Ind. 

SHOULD TEACH ONLY WHAT HE BELIEVES 

A pastor should teach and preach only what he honestly 
and sincerely believes. Any accomodation savors of dishon- 
esty, and is sure to betray itself sooner or later, by the hollow 
ring of insincerity. 



350 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND METHODS 

If the church makes an issue of conformity to its creed, 
and the differences between the creed and the pastor's views 
cannot be taken care of by tolerance on both sides, and an 
agreement that the differences are not vital, I should seek 
another field. If by "church" is meant not an individual 
congregation, but an entire denomination, the same procedure 
would still be applicable. 

On the whole my feeling is that conformity to a creed is 
something that should have wide and generous margins. The 
truth is too big to be comprehended by any creed. They are 
passing symbols, bound to be replaced by new ones as the 
spirit of truth, that guides into all truth, leads Christian 
thought and experience into larger knowledge and deeper 
insights. Failure to perceive this leads perennially to the 
exaltation of dead dogmas above vital ethics and morality. 
Thus a symbol that is very valuable as a general rallying- 
point for a body of believers may become a means of disper- 
sion. Or, to use a different figure, the child is drowned in the 
font prepared for its baptism. 

Prof. William Frederic Bade. 

Pacific School of Religion. 

THINGS NEW AND OLD 

It is the business of the pastor and teacher to bring forth 
things new as well as old out of his treasure house. He there- 
fore ought to be progressive and say things at times that his 
people would not believe. 

"While the liberty of the pulpit involves a wide latitude 
and patience on the part of a congregation, if a pastor finds 
himself essentially out of accord with the doctrinary standards 
of his church, and so vitally at variance with it that he can- 
not hope to lead his people intellectually in the direction his 
mind is going, he ought to seek another pastorate, for his min- 



THE MINISTER AND CREED SUBSCRIPTION 351 

istry can never produce anything but discord. It has always 
seemed to me that the root of the difficulty lay in the concep- 
tion that church membership was supposed to involve con- 
siderable attainment in theological knowledge, as though the 
church were a body of graduate scholars. It is rather an 
inclusive school for a great many grown-ups who are not be- 
yond the kindergarten stage of religious thinking. 

Rev. William Horace Day, D. D. 
The United Church, Bridgeport, Conn. 

CREEDS SHOULD NOT BE FORCED 

In its relation to its pastor if a confession of faith has 
been prepared and is part of the trust, the church must de- 
termine whether the pastor is loyal to all vital elements in it 
and on the other hand the pastor must determine whether he 
honestly believes the vital contents of the confession. If the 
trust cannot be fulfilled in all vital elements the pastorate 
should be dissolved. I believe, however, that where the min- 
ister is a real Christian deriving his life from Christ, and 
walking daily in the spirit of Christ, difficulties are not likely 
to arise. If because of the nature of the creed such a Chris- 
tian pastor is compelled to withdraw there is no reflection on 
him. The reflection is on the church which has departed so 
greviously from the law of Christ. 

There is no more serious departure from the spirit of 
Christ and the way of Christ than is to be found in the 
formulation of doctrinal statements by individuals or coteries 
with the intention of forcing them upon their brethren in their 
own generation and possibly till the end of time. The effort is 
treasonable. Christ is the only head of the church. He is 
not remote but living, present, regal in the fellowship of His 
believers. His spirit guides into all truth, bringing all things 
to the remembrance of those who obey Him. As many as are 
led by the spirit of God are the sons of God. To act as 



352 CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND METHODS 

though Christ were absent, to make acceptance of philosoph- 
ical, and sometimes emotional, phrases, the basis of the church 
is to commit treason against the Lord Himself. It reduces the 
church to the level of other institutions. It ultimately leads 
men to prefer lodges, societies, cults that appear to them to 
be more modern and reasonable. Had we been true to the posi- 
tion taken by our brethren 250 years ago I do not believe that 
the gates of hell could have prevailed against us. ' ' We do not 
look for agreement of others with our opinions so much as 
for the spirit of Christ in each man's daily walk and conver- 
sation. " The essence of success lies in loyalty to Christ. 

Rev. John Gardner, D. D. 
New England Church, Chicago. 

LET HIM TELL THE CHURCH 

Creeds not being properly definitive or exclusive, but the 
outgrowth of experience, should be unitive. But unfortunate- 
ly they are not. The great historic creeds, with the partial 
exception of the Apostles', are theological, not experiential, 
and will not help us much toward union, — not nearly as much 
as the hymns. Perhaps as the churches move toward unity 
they will work out a simpler, sweeter, stronger unifying creed, 
but not unless they base it upon a common experience. As 
to the pastor of a church which has a creed to which he cannot 
honesty assent, in whole or in part, why should he not say 
frankly to the church, "I can not assent fully to this creed. 
Shall I go ? " Is there a church on earth that would answer : 
' ' Go ? ' ' — provided there was no other reason. 

Prof. John Wright Buckham. 

Pacific Theological Seminary. 



INDEX 



Abbott, Lyman 173- 

Abernethy, Henry C 

Act of Union 198, 

Adams, George M 

Ains worth, Henry 

Albany Convention 

Alden, Edmund K 173, 

Allen, George 

American Board Controversy 
Amsterdam Confession, 1596., 

Anabaptists 

Anderson, Asher 

Andrews, Israel W.. .163, 173, 

Apostles' Creed 214, 

Arber, Edward 48 

Arius 259, 260, 

Art and Idolatry 

Assent to Covenant, Audible 

or Tacit 

Athanasian Creed 

249, 250, 253, 

Ayre, Franklin D 

Bacon, Leonard 143, 

Bacon, Leonard W 

52, 68, 70, 139, 

Bade, Wm. F 

Baillie, Robert 

Baker, Newton D 

Balkam, Uriah 

Ballantine, W. G 

Bangor Confession, 209, 

Baptism and Church Mem- 
bership 

Baptismal Covenant 

Baptist Churches and their 
Covenants 18, 45, 

Barnard,^S. S 

Barnes, A. S 

Barrington, Lord 



179 Barrowe, Henry 40, 42, 105 

161 Barstow, Amos C 162 

199 Bartlett, Samuel C 125, 168 

162 Barton, James L 340 

108 Barton, Wm. E 202, 203 

142 Beard, Augustus F 173, 179 

174 Beckwith, Clarence A 251-252 

156 Beardsley, Henry H 203 

174 Berkeley, Calif. Covenant ...102 
105 Bicknell, F. W 162, 163 

19 Blair, Samuel 85, 112 

200 Blaisdell, James A 324, 341 

179 Bonam, Wm 31 

261 Booth, Henry K 340 

, 49 Bowdoin Street Church 216 

261 Boston, First Church, 81 ; Second 
273 Church, 82; Third Church (Old 

South), 69, 211, 212; Park St., 

208 211, 212, 214-217; Shawmut, 

85; Central, 90; Federal St., 

254 211; Essex St., 216; Pine St., 

162 216; Mt. Vernon, 216. 

Boynton, George M 301 

162 Boynton, Nehemiah, 202, 203 

Bradford, William.. 29, 49, 59, 75 

140 Bradshaw, J. W 202 

351 Brainerd, James S 162 

62 Bredwell, Stephen 44 

287 Bremner, David 154 

150 Brewster, Wm. 48, 50, 108, 110, 228 
311 Bridgeport, Conn. Covenant. .103 

216 Bristol, A. G 147 

British Museum 27, 78 

68 Britannica, Encyclopedia ... 53 

224 Bromhead, Hugh 43 

Brookline, Covenant 216 

207 Brooks, Raymond C 325, 334 

147 Browne, Robert 34, 36, 

161 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 105, 106, 207 

297 Brown, Robert E 309, 345 

353 



S54 



CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 



Bryce, James 54 

Buck, Daniel 75 

Buckingham, Governor G. W. 156 

Buckham, John W 318, 352 

Buddington, Wm. 1 163, 165 

Burial Hill Confession. . .142-160 

Burrage, Champlin, 

....5, 18, 22, 23, 35, 36, 47, 112 

Burroughs, Jeremiah 77 

Burton, H 12, 75, 77, 293 

Cambridge, Mass., Council. . .270 
Cambridge Platform of 1648, 

10, 77, 119 

Cambridgeport Covenants . . .216 

Calkins, Raymond 203, 328 

Capen, Samuel B . .203 

Carpenter, Elisha 168 

Carter, Chas. P 347 

Cartwright, Thomas 29, 40, 42, 45 

Channing, W. E 241-244 

Charlestown, First Church . . 10 

Chase, S. Angier 162 

Chauncey, Charles 69 

Chicago Covenants, 210, 216; 
First Church, 97; New Eng- 
land. 97; Rogers Park, 98. 
Chicago Ministers' Union . . . .204 
Chicago Theological Semi- 
nary . . .142 

Churchman, The London . . . .254 

Clark, Calvin M 307 

Clemens, Samuel L 238 

Clerke, William 39 

Cleveland Covenants, 216; First 
Church, 216; Euclid Ave,, 97 

Clifton, Richard 48, 49 

Coe, David B 173-179 

Commission of Nineteen. .203-206 
Compromise, in the Produc- 
tion of Creeds 260 

'Confession of Faith" of 1883, 86; 

1895, 87. 
Congregational Church, not 
necessarily a Church of 

Congregationalists 9 

Controversy, Creeds the Re- 
sult of 260 

Congregational Quarterly . . 

209, 212, 292 

Constructive Quarterly 263 

Corbett, John 297 



Cordley, Richard 173, 179 

Cotton, John 63-75, 294, 207 

Cowling, Donald J 332 

Cummings, Preston 293, 297 

Curtis, W. A 236, 264, 265-7 

Daggett, O. E 156 

Dale, Robert W 301 

Dana, Malcolm 312, 333 

Danforth, Samuel 71 

Davenport, John . .51, 69, 77, 210 

Davis, Josiah G 162 

Day, Calvin 162 

Day, William Horace . . .202, 351 

Dayton Confession 197, 202 

Dedham Decision 210 

Denver Covenants 100, 101 

DesMoines Covenant 98 

Detroit Covenant 99, 210 

Detroit Meeting of Commis- 
sion of Nineteen 204 

Dewey, H. P 315, 345 

Dexter Collection, Yale Li- 
brary 105 

Dexter, Henry M 29, 34, 

42, 43, 73, 84, 161, 173, 179 
Disruption, Effect on the 

Idea of God 277 

Dorcastor, Nicholas 36 

Drown, Edward S 230-235 

Dun, Covenant of 1556 24 

Dunning, Albert E 314, 329 

Dwight, Timothy 78 

Dwinell, Israel 168 

Eaton, Edward D. . .203, 315, 344 

Eaton, Samuel 51, 78 

Edinburgh Covenants 24 

Eddy, Zachary 173, 179 

Edwards, Jonathan . . .70, 72, 169 
Elasticity of Language in 

Creeds 202 

Elderkin, Noble S 307 

Eldridge, Joseph 149 

Elgin Association 255, 257 

Eliot, Chas. W 54 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, 

30, 32, 108 

Emmons, Nathaniel, . .12, 40, 169 

Endicott, John 60 

English Confessions 180, 197 



INDEX 



355 



English Congregational 

Churches Creedless 206 

Eunuch, Baptism of 243, 244 

Evans, Daniel 327 

Examinations for Church 

Membership 9 

Exodus, Effect on the Idea of 

God 277 

Fairchild, James H .147, 173, 179 

Felt, J. B 51 

Fenner, Dudley 40 

Ferrers, Thos 40 

Fisher, George P 

143, 147, 173, 179 

Fiske, D. T 108 

Fiske, G. Walter 339 

Fiske, John O 147, 150 

Fitchburg Covenant 85, 209 

Fitzmillian, N. H. Covenant . .213 

Fleet Prison, 31, 105 

Fox, Daniel F 312 

Free Church Catechism . .183-189 

Fuller, Samuel 59 

Fytz, Richard ....29, 31, 33, 105 

Gale, Nahum 147 

Galesburg, 111. Covenant .85, 257 

Gardner, John 317, 351 

Gaylord, E. D 331 

Gilman, Edward W. .162, 209, 213 
Goodell, Constans L. ...173, 179 

Goodwin, E. P 173, 174 

Goodwin, John 74 

Goodwin, Thomas 74, 77, 294, 295 
Gladden, Washington . . .200, 202 

Grant, U. S 289 

Grindal, Bishop of London . . 30 
Greenwood, John 40, 42 105, 107 
Guilford, Conn. Covenant of 
1639 51 

Haddon, Archibald 338 

Halfway Covenant 67-73 

Hall, George E 202 

Hall, Newton M 349 

Hamerton, William 43 

Hammond, Col. C. G. . . .152, 156 

Hanbury, Benjamin 

76, 77, 78, 126 

Harris, Samuel 147 

Hart, J. C 157 



Hartford, Halfway Covenant 
of 1696, 71; Center Church 
Covenant, 81. 

Haven, Joseph 147 

Heads of Agreement, 1692 ... 15 

Helwis, Thos 46, 47 

Hibbert Journal 249, 253 

Higginson, Francis 

10, 75, 139, 297 

Higmore, John H 267-268 

Hill, E. Munson 180 

Hill, Hamilton A 85, 212 

"Hiring and Firing' 'of Min- 
isters 269 

Hobart, L. S 161, 162, 163 

Holmes, Samuel 161, 163 

Holy Spirit promised to all 

believers 258-260, 282 

Hooker, Thomas 65, 75 

Hooper, Bishop John ♦ 29 

Hopkins, Samuel 169 

Horton, Francis 162 

Hough, J. W 163 

Howard, Gen. 0.0 165 

Howard, R. B 161 

Howe, John 298 

Huckel, Oliver 203 

Huget, J. Percival 331 

Hugo, Victor 280 

Huntington, George 217 

Hurd, PhiloR 161 

Hutchinson, Thomas 77 

Hyde, James T 173, 179 

Illinois Congregational Con- 
ference 255, 257 

Image Worship and Creeds 
.273-278 

Jackson, Mich. Covenant .96, 204 

Jacob, Henry 32, 43, 207 

Jailer, Philippian 243, 244 

James I., of England 42, 108 

Jefferson, Charles E 202 

Jerusalem, Synod of 259 

Jessey Records 44 

Johnson, Captain Edward, 
"Wonder Working Provi- 
dence" 9-11 

Johnson, E. P 202 

Johnson, Francis 

39, 40, 107, 108, 207 



356 



CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 



Johnson, James E 173, 179 

Jones, Augustine 340 

Justin Martyr 75 

Kansas City Creed 

216-218, 203-206 

Karr, Wm. S 173, 174 

Kearnie, James L. 161 

"Kernel and the Husk" 253 

Kelsey, H. H 203 

Kerr, James 25, 26 

Kilbon, John L 330 

Kimball, Frank 203 

King, Henry C 315, 345, 262 

King, Peter 77 

Kingman, Henry 322 

Kirbye, J. E 324, 336 

Knox, John 24 

Ladd, George T 173, 179 

Laird, W. H 202 

Lawrence, Edward A 

123, 124, 143, 147 

Leach, James A 162 

Leavitt, George R 283-286 

Leavitt, Joshua 151 

Lechford, Thomas 63, 78, 207, 297 

Leeds, Samuel P 173, 179 

Leyden, Pilgrims in 50, 56 

Liberty, Personal and Cor- 
porate 230 

Lincoln, Abraham 245 

Lincoln, Nebr. Covenant ....101 

Locher, Hans 22 

London Confession of 1689 ..105 

Lodge, Henry C 54 

Long Beach, Calif. Covenant . 85 

Lummis, E. W 253 

Lyon, James H 162 

Mackenzie, W. D. . . .199, 200, 202 

Magoun, Geo. P 161 

Marshall, T. R 238 

Mary Tudor, Queen of Eng- 
land .29, 32 

Mather, Cotton, 48, 49, 75, 78, 124, 
130, 139, 143, 169, 209, 236, 294, 
297. 

Mather, Increase 77, 122, 130 

Mather, Richard 64, 112, 293 

Mather, Samuel 77 

Mayflower Compact 53, 58 

McCall, Henry S 162, 163 



McKenzie, Alexander ...173, 179 
McKinley, Charles E. . . .323, 347 

Mead, Charles M 173, 179 

Mead, Hiram 163 

Memorial Hall, London 31 

Merriman, Wm. E. . .162, 163, 165 
Michigan City Convention . . .142 
Middleburg, Holland 36, 38, 39, 40 
Milford Church Covenant ...296 

Milligan, Henry F 327 

Mills, Charles S 202, 203 

Mills, W. W 203 

Morgan, C. C 202 

Morgan, Chas. L. ...202, 255-257 

Morley on Compromise 247 

Mooar, Geo 173, 179 

Morse, Jedediah 299 

Morton ,Nathaniel 50, 297 

Moxom, Philip S. 202 

Murton, John 43, 46, 47 

Muskegon, Mich., Covenant ... 85 

Nash, C. S 202, 203, 342 

Nation, The New York 267 

Neal, Daniel 73 

New Haven, Church Organi- 
zation, 10; Covenants, 210 

Newman, John Henry 253 

New School 213 

Newton, Mass 85, 91, 93 

New York General Associa- 
tion 162 

Nicene Creed . . .249, 259, 260-261 

Nichols, J. R 336 

Norwich, Conn., Covenant . . .209 
Norwich, Robert Browne's 

Church 38 

Novalis 235 

Noyes, D. J 147 

Noyes, E. M 323 

Oakes, Urian 122 

Oak Park Creed and Cove- 
nant 217, 227 

Oberlin Declaration 161-172 

Obsolete Laws and Creeds.. 

286-290 

Ogilvie, Andrew 308, 350 

Ohio General Conference 162 

Old Testament, Basis of Cov- 
enant Idea 20 seq. 

Osborne, Naboth 330 



INDEX 



357 



Ottumwa, Iowa Covenant 85 

Owen, John 77, 294 

Palimpsest, Creed A, 290 

Palmer, Ray 161 

Park, Edwards A 147, 151 

Farker, Chas. C 122 

Parker, Henry E 162 

Patten, Carl S. 310, 349 

Patton, William W 

151, 161, 173, 179 

Penrose, S. B. L 202 

Perry, A. T 202 

Perry, John H 202 

Person, H. Grant 316 

Peter, Hugh . , 112, 113, 208 

Perth, Covenant 24 

Pilgrim Covenant 57, 79 

Pilgrim Memorial Convention 162 

Phillips, Geo. W 163 

Plan of Union 142, 213 

Platner, John W 314 

Pliny, Letter to Trajan 21 

Plumbers' Hall Congregation 

30, 105 

Plymouth, Mass. and Burial 

Hill Confession 154-16*) 

Post, Truman 142 

Potter, R. H 203 

Presbyterianism and Congre- 
gationalism 213 

Prince, Thomas 275 

Proctor, H. H 202 

Prophet, The Minister, A, 267, 270 

Proselytes of the Gate 21 

Provincetown, Mass 53 

Prynne, Wm 12, 75, 77, 293 

Quadrilateral, Elgin 256 

Quincy, Josiah 130 

Quint, A. H., 143, 152, 153, 157- 
160, 161-167, 236, 283, 299. 

Rainey, Principal 235 

Rathband, Wm 16, 62, 113 

Raymond, Rossiter W 202 

Redford, George 180 

Reformation 18 

Reforming Synod of 1679-80 .121 

Renewal of Covenant 208 

Rice, J. H. J 317, 337 

Rix, Joseph 208 



Robbins, Alden B 173, 179 

Robinson, John, 43, 46, 48, 50, 76, 
105, 110, 140, 228, 298. 

Rockford, 111 255 

Rogers Park, Chicago 255 

Roman Catholic Faith 247 

Roosevelt, Theodore 53 

Ross, A. Hastings . .162, 302, 303 

Rotterdam Covenant 113 

Rutan, C. H 202 

Ryder, W. H 323, 341 

Sabatier, August 258 

Salem Covenant, of 1629, 10, 60, 
75, 79; of 1636, 80; of 1665, 70, 
113-117. 

Saltonstall, Gurdon 131 

Sanders, Frank K 203 

Sandys, Edwin 50 

Savage, G. S. F 147 

Savoy Confession, 15, 17, 293, 126, 

180. 
Saybrook Confession .15, 128-137 

Scotch Covenants 24 seq. 

Scrooby Covenant 10 

Seccombe, Charles 162, 163 

Second Commandment 273 

Seelye, J. H 173, 179 

Seven Articles 109 

Sidgwick, Henry 248, 249 

Sheldon, Charles M. . . . .309, 346 

Smith, Daniel T 292 

Smith, James R 326 

Smith, Ralph D 162 

Smits, Bastian 337 

Smyth, John 43, 48 

Solemn League and Cove- 
nant of 1643 27 

Sprague, Leslie W 311 

Sperry, W. L 312, 337 

St. Louis Covenant 100 

Springfield, Mass. Covenants, 

. .94 95 

Stiles', Ezra . . .'. ... ..'.'.. 298 

Stimson, H. A 203 

Stoddard, Charles 156, 162 

Storrs, H. M 143 

Strong, J. W 163 

Swain, Leonard 147 

Taft, W. H 27, 53 

Tanner, A. A 312, 335 



358 



CONGREGATIONAL CREEDS AND COVENANTS 



Tappan, Benj 162 

Taunton, Covenant of 1705, 71, 72 

Taylor, Nathaniel W 78, 169 

Test and Testimony 

255-257, 292-303 

Thirty-nine Articles 228 

Thompson, J. W. . . .143, 147, 150 

Tobey, Edward S 161 

Tompkins, B. W 161 

Torrington Covenant 210 

Trajan, Emperor 21 

"True Confession" 108 

"True Description" 105 

Trumbull, Henry C 19 

Twain, Mark 238, 240 

Tyler, Bennet 169 

Tyre, Synod of 259 

Unitarian Controversy . .9, 13, 79 

Unity of the Church 166 

Unpopular Review 229 

Vermilye, Robert G 162 

Vial, Geo. M 202 

Virgin Birth 245 

Voss, James G 162 

Walker, C. J 161, 168 

Walker, George Leon, 71, 173, 179 

Walker, Henry H 328 

Walker, Williston, 5, 10, 11, 61, 



72, 105, 107, 108, 115-117, 120- 
122, 128, 132. 

Wallace, Cyrus W 162 

Ware, Henry 298, 299 

Warham, John 117 

Warner, L. C 203 

Warren, H. K 346 

Waterbury Covenant, 96 

Watertown Covenant 81 

Watts, Isaac 78, 295 

Webb, Edwin B 162, 165 

Wellman, Arthur 203 

Wenham Confession of 1644. . 9 

Westminster Confession 

14, 15, 124 

Whitehead, John M 202, 203 

Wier, Archibald 249 

Willard, Samuel 85 

Wilson, Woodrow 239, 240 

Windsor, Creed and Cove- 
nant 117, 118 

Winslow, Edward 48, 49, 60 

Winthrop Confession of 1647, 9 
Woburn Covenant of 1642, ... 11 

Wclcott, Samuel 161 

Wolstenholme, John 110 

Wonder Working Providence 

9, 11 

Woodrow, Samuel H. ...324, 343 
Worcester Covenant 92 

Yale University Library .... 105 



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